And then you start to look for who to blame. A lot of the time, we turn this blame to Jesus.
That’s right. It’s easy to blame a God you cannot ‘see’ or ‘hear’. You think XYZ happened because “God wasn’t there”. Or the all popular one, we blame all our “enemies in the village plotting our downfall.”
It’s 2.43am on a Friday night and I have stumbled on this verse that seems to so perfectly describe us (me, at least) a lot of the time:
1 Pet 4:12 MSG
Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.
It’s easy to blame God for a lot of our problems. Consciously or not, we think the reasons we are in our circumstances are because God allowed it to happen.
I have often heard that phrase the most when death comes around. Nevertheless, it exists even more in our everyday lives - so much so, that we don’t even realise it. Yes nothing passes this earth without God’s knowledge but please, please don’t forget that Satan is the ruler of this earth. 2 Cor 4:4 NLT
We get a bad grade and we think “but God, I prayed so long and hard this morning. How could you have let this happen?!” We offer our services to God and people laugh at us and call us names.
Sometimes, we actually think that maybe, just maybe, God isn’t “on the job”. We think He might be too busy for us or He’s not really with us as He says He is.
Yes we read the bible and see all the promises. Yes we’ve seen some miracles around us, even in our own lives every now and again but it just seems like a facade.
We don’t expect God to do the impossible. It’s all fun and nice to read and talk about it in our bible study group, but when it comes to us and our own lives, it looks like mission impossible. In fact, dare I say, we have even hidden aspects of our lives because we think - again, subconsciously or not - that God can’t do it. Or He won’t do it.
We think that because we face trials and challenges, God isn’t as good to us anymore.
Think about it. You have moments when everything is going great and you’re oh so full of joy. You think “God must be feeling good to be blessing me like this. He is soooo good!”
Then something hits - a loss, a bad grade, some depressing thoughts - and all of a sudden you’re not praying as much anymore or spending time with God. All of a sudden your perfect world isn’t so perfect anymore. And then the thoughts creep in “But God, what did I do? Why are you letting all this happen to me? It’s not fair.”
It’s almost as though you are blaming God for being in that situation. Imagine! The same God that was so good to you yesterday doesn’t seem so good to you anymore? As though God is like a man that changes his ways and feelings.
In the words of Peter, I urge us all to take a moment to consider that verse: Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.
Why? Because He is God. Simple. And if you know God, you know that He is ALWAYS on the job. God is good and God is God. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts as far as the heavens are from the earth, to ours.
V13 Peter urges us, instead of blaming God and thinking He’s not on the job, “be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”
How refreshing! How wonderful and comforting to think that all I ever go through is for spiritual refinement. It’s so that I can grow and be more like Christ. Isn’t that our goal? Isn’t that what our lives are built on? that we may know Him?
“Weeping may endure for the night, but Joy comes in the morning."
Peter ends like this in V19, “So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust Him. He knows what He’s doing and He’ll keep doing it.”
Next time when things don’t go according to plan, don’t be so quick to think that God was ‘against' you. God is always for us and can never be against us. Romans 8:31
Peace and love,
Thea xo
Thanks for this lovely reminder. God continually fill you up and use you 🙏🏻
ReplyDelete