Getting Mad @ God
A friend of mine recently wrote on his Myspace Blog this great question:
Sometimes I truely feel like getting good and upset with God. I don’t understand the things He allows. Part of me feels guilty, like I should be a good Christian boy and roll with the punches like Job. Granted, I’m not to the point that Job’s friends were advising him to be: I’m not a the “curse God and die” stage, but I still have questions.
See, my brother’s daughter, my innocent little neice, has been diagnosed with glaucoma, and by the time it was discovered, she has already lost over 50% of her vision in one eye and can only see with tunnel vision. It seems God has given her grace beyond her years to deal with this because she has the best, sweetest attitude of any person, adult or child alike, that I’ve ever met. Appartenly this is something that’s been developing since childhood. The irony is that between her brother and sister, she’s always been the one to appreciate the beauty in the simple things of this world. ie, an “intresting blade of grass”. She’s also the one who’s been most into art and drawing. No matter what has come her way, she’s been positive and an encouragement to others around her.
Why does this have to happen to her? I know my pre-packaged Christian answer that directs me to look at the example of Job, but somehow that doesn’t seem to make it make any more sense.
Pray for her healing.
Here is my response… May we continue to pray for the niece who seems to be revealing a side of God’s character:
Greet question Brad!
Not that I claim to have all the answers, but I have been faced with this question myself many times (both in my own life and in the lives of others). The question comes down to, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Or even, “Why do bad things happen… period?”
When I was about 13/14 years old, I hated life. I literally wanted to die. I had just moved from my closest peeps for the third time. I had been living in the woods of New England and now I was living downtown St. Louis, MO. And my “M.O.” was everything but city living. AND I had to start wearing a tie to the Catholic private school that I was attending. I was straight up depressed. I had no friends and could not understand why if there even was a God, why He would allow life to suck so bad. Not too long after I became and atheist, denouncing the existence of God all together. Some years passed and after a chain of events I could not explain away by mere coincidence, I moved into the agnostic realm beliving that there had to be something out there greater than my puny backside (if speaking in algebraic terms it would look like:[ ____?_____ > my puny az]). After some searching through Rastafarianism, Buddhism, Shinto-ism, etc. I came to conviction that Jesus was what He claimed to be “The Way, The Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).
But that still doesn’t answer why bad things happen to good people. Why your niece, as precious as she is with such a great outlook on life, would be stricken by something so bad. Here is my understanding:
1. After God created the earth, with everything in it, including two naked people (one male and one female) He in many respects let nature take its course. In so doing, He gave humankind freedom of choice and whether you believe they ate an apple or a mango or a carrot, the bottom line is that our fore-parents decided to turn their backs on God and do their own thang.
2. Many people see God as some vindictive God with a Gatlin Gun ready to destroy sinners for their bad behavior. The Bible (which I have come to believe is a book that reveals to us God’s character) would say otherwise. Even in the Garden of Eden, God comes running back to His creation, and the creation decided to run and hide (much like you and me when we screw up or do the very thing that we promised ourselves, others, and God that we would never do again). So when we hide, God initiates restoring the relationship, which to me would indicate that God is a God of love rather than vengeance and wrath.
3. Still the question remains, why does bad things happen to good people? My understanding is simply that God, being a God of love, honors our freedom of choice. Our fore-parents opted to turn their backs on God and do things their way. Ever since, we’ve been following their pattern as it seems innate in us to rebel. But God permits it to continue on. We may ask the question, “Well then, why doesn’t God just snuff sin/rebellion out and start over?” He could do that, but it seems that He is permitting sin to run its course and in my opinion He is allowing it to take place so that we will taste the full measure of what sin has to offer and never desire it again. All this to say that your nieces ailments are occurring, not because God is sticking her down or punishing her, but because He is allowing sin to manifest itself completely on this earth. And along with sin, comes sickness, defects, and streaks of bad luck that we just can’t explain.
I am not sure if this provides any help to the matter at hand. From what I can tell about Jesus, I am fairly positive that His heart is breaking more than any of ours when one of His children face hardships.
In closing, Jesus says, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). It seems to me that we could all benefit from spending time with your niece and learning to see the world through her eyes. My prayer for her is that she holds onto her innocence, creativity and ability to see beauty even in a blade of grass despite her ailment.
“And the world is passing away… but s/he who does the will of God abides forever” (I John 2:17).
Prayers ascend…
Posted by matthew gamble on June 02, 2006 at 07:39 PM
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hey matthew. i was iN the baNd for the high skool teNt at the NNSW big camp. iN oNe of our daily worships that greg gates took, the coNversatioN turNed from the story of Job to why bad thiNgs happeN oN earth to us today. i agree with everythiNg u have said but i still thiNk that the Jesus provided us with a simple aNswer to that questioN wheN he taught us how to pray.
Our Father iN heaveN,
hallowed be your Name.
Your KiNgdom come,
your will be doNe,
oN earth as iN heaveN
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our siNs,
as we forgive those who siN agaiNst us.
Lead us Not iNto temptatioN,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kiNgdom, the power and the glory are yours.
Now aNd for ever. AmeN
From the lords prayer i get that at the momeNt the devil is iN coNtrol of the earth. i get from it that God who is iN heaveN. you are great. at the momeNt ur iN heaveN aNd the devil is ruNNiNg riot oN ur earth. wheN your kiNgdom comes agaiN, what u woNt to be doNe oN the earth will happeN. forgive us for the thiNgs we have doNe aNd will do. help us Not get iNto the thiNgs that are of the devil aNd help us see wat is right aNd of you. aNd oNce agaiN it says the for the kiNgdom aNd the power aNd the glory are urs. with the devil ruNNiN riot oN earth, bad thiNgs are always goiN to happeN. the devil at momeNt is iN coNtrol of the earth. iN Job it talks about the devil patroliN the earth, watchiNg aNd listeNiNg. the devil doesNt just patrol arouNd watchiN the couNtryside aNd listeNiN to the birds. he is out to ruiN lives and turN as maNy people away from God. Not sure if u agree but yer i thought id just share that so if u get bored u have sumthiNg to speNd ur time thiNkiNg about. God bless,
Posted by joel heise on October 15, 2007 at 05:46 PM | #Thank you for taking the time to comment. If I am understanding you correctly, I believe we are on the same page.
Blessings and keep the faith!
mwg
Posted by matthew gamble on October 17, 2007 at 11:14 PM | #Page 1 of 1 pages