by Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback
Rabbi Yoshi delivered these remarks at the “Partners in Prayer” gathering at Faithful Central Bible Church this past Sunday.
Watch the video here
When my youngest daughter was about 3 years old, my wife sent me on an errand to Target with our little girl. She said, “Just make sure you get the laundry detergent and bring our daughter back home.”
We drove to one of those Super Targets. It was huge and I couldn’t find the laundry detergent. I was holding my daughter’s hand tightly as we walked through the store. Finally I asked someone to help me and she pointed the way to the household cleaning supplies section.
I’d forgotten to ask my wife which brand she wanted and this was a problem because the choices seemed endless. I finally picked out a product that looked similar to something I’d seen once in the home. As I turned to go to the cashier, I realized that my daughter was gone.
I called her name but there was no response. I started to panic. I was searching everywhere. I began yelling her name out loud.
Finally, I heard her call to me. She sounded like she was about to cry. She had wandered into the toy section and she suddenly realized that I wasn’t standing by her side anymore. I ran to her and I picked her up and I held her so tightly.
Scripture teaches us that this is how it is with God. In Psalm 145 we learn that when we cry out to God, God is there. We might lose God for a moment in the busyness of our lives or because our ego gets in the way or because of our anger and disappointment about the suffering in our world or maybe just because sometimes we forget. But God never loses us.
The Psalm teaches:
…קָרוֹב יְהוָה לְכָל־קֹרְאָיו
Karov Adonai l’chol korav.
God is right there—close to everyone who cries out to God. God is right next to us.
That’s the miracle of God’s presence and that’s how God is so different from us. We can only be in one place at a time and if we’re in the laundry detergent aisle and our daughter’s in the toy section we might not be able to hear her. But that’s not how it is with God because God is everywhere. God is right here—and maybe especially right here because of the way our hearts are open to one another.
God is in us. God is in this community. Karov Adonai l’chol korav—when we open ourselves to each other, when we open ourselves to God, we know that God is here in this moment and in every moment.
