Two works of art help John Ortberg think about the presence of God. One is Michelangelo Buonarroti’s brilliant painting of God and Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. God is close. His hand comes within a hair’s breath of the hand of the man. It seems to say that God is closer than we think—he’s here, now, today, accessible to all who will but “lift a finger.”

The second work of art is Martin Hanford’s cartoon character Waldo. He is on every page of the Where’s Waldo? books, but he can be difficult to find. In the same way, even though God is present on every page of our lives, he’s often not easy to spot.

In God Is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg examines this frustrating paradox of the Christian life.

“When it is so easy to ‘see’ God all around me (in trees, in birds, in nature) why is it so hard to feel his presence—especially when I need him most?”

Ortberg helps readers discover the secret to living daily in the reality of God’s most frequent promise in Scripture, “I will be with you.”