Welcome back for part II of: Can I Tick Off God?
Let’s be more precise and to the point of this person’s question. Does God cause pain and suffering because he turns his back on God? Well, if that were truly the case, we’d all be in pretty hot water; right in the here and now.
In a manner of speaking, we all turn our backs on God; at one moment or another, don’t we?
It may be hard for some to swallow, but as a person sins, we say; “he/she sins against God.” Whether or not we are Christians, at that point, would seem to be kind of mute; yes? If one commits adultery, they are turning there back on God and His desire for us. If one commits murder, are they also not turning their backs on God and His ways?
King David was guilty of murder. In that moment of murder, was he not turning his back on God? He obviously wasn’t “Christian,” but he was kind of God’s right-hand man at the time. Yet, he was a man after God’s own heart.
Samuel says to King Saul; “The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you,” (1 Sam 13:14) (bold=my emphasis).
Indeed, king David was punished for his sins he committed with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. We learn in 2 Samuel how the God took their child from them. Even after the coming of Jesus, God dealt abruptly with a few people; such as Ananias and his wife Sapphira, (Act 5:1-11), during the literal creation of Christ’s church.
It is during this time, during the establishing of the church, that we can see a considerable grey area.
Obviously, there is a difference between how God dealt with man throughout Old Testament times and how He dealt with man after the coming of Christ. Can God cause us pain and suffering for turning our backs on Him? Of course, He can. Does He? Not always.
I am not one of those that believe God, in our present times, causes illness, hardship, and death, to punish people for their sins, even though we may still be in the midst of that grey.
I do believe wholeheartedly that out of pain and suffering God creates something good; something that will bring glory to Him. Even today, we recognize that we learn more through the experience of pain and suffering than we do without.
Let’s move on to the remainder of this reddit user’s questions; “Why can’t he understand that it’s caused me my fair share of pain, suffering, fear, and alienation? Why can’t he understand I just want to live a normal life, where I can actually tackle the struggles I face?”
I will address this as they are essentially just forming one question. And that essential question; “Why doesn’t God understand me and what I’m going through?” This would be a fair way to simplify the question.
First, I will just put this as straightforward as I can and emphasize; God has absolutely no problem understanding us and what we go through in this world. Any problem or lack of understanding is on our part, not God’s.
God formed man out of the dust of this world. His breath gave man life. Trust me when I say, God understands us! He understands each one of us as we ourselves, or even our spouses and partners, can’t fully understand us.
God created the heart of man in His own image. God knows our hearts. There is nothing we can hide from Him, intentionally or otherwise.
God doesn’t know us merely through the act of creating us. He came down into this world, through Christ, He lived with us, He taught us, He walked with us, He redeemed us from our nature of sin. For “Jesus is the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15).
Through Christ Jesus, God experienced our love, our hope, our triumphs, our failures, our pain. He mourned with us. He shed tears and even wept aloud, (Joh 11:35, Heb 5:7, Luk 19:421).
God can be found in Christ; “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” (Col 2:9). We are so limited in our ability to understand that we cannot fathom how Christ and God are one, “Joh 10:30).
During the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him,” (Joh 14:17). John told us at the beginning of his gospel; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” (Joh 1:1).
And yet, millions walking the earth will tell you that Jesus was/is not God. They will even tell you He was not the Son of God. The apostle, in verse 3, restates the words of Paul, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made,” (Joh 1:3, Col 1:16).
So, rest assured, God fully understands you and me, and with a clarity that none of us will ever have in this world. We are the ones who need to improve our understanding. We are the ones who need to take God and His love for us, seriously.
God offers us salvation and life everlasting; with Him. Jesus, the Son of God, as we know of Him, is our bridge to understanding. If only we would listen and believe the truth.
©2019 Clayton Moore All Rights Reserved!
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