AMY LARSON
Staff Writer
Recently, I have come to notice a trend. If ever something negative occurs in our lives, we tend to blame God, yet when positive things happen, we are slow to give credit to Him. Though I am far from claiming to never have blamed God for anything, I still wonder at this pattern. Why are we so quick to blame God for tragedies, mistakes or bad things that happen?
I think we all have different expectations and interpretations of who God is, but it seems that the collective agreement is that God will, in all instances, shield us from all danger or bad things. He will allow us to live on fluffy clouds where we are shielded from danger and insulated from the outside world. When our safe, comfortable world is disrupted, we blame God and get angry at Him. This is not right.
God is the giver of all good things (James 1:17), and He protects us and keeps watch over us (Psalms 23 and 91). Many of us, especially those of us raised in church, are aware of these verses, but we forget them quickly when trouble comes along.
I want to challenge you to take a different view of struggle, a different view of hardship. I would like to suggest that hardship can be a good thing. While I do not believe that God causes tragedies or difficulties I do think that God can turn troubled times or bad situations into something good (Romans 8:28). That being said, we must try to see the positive in a sea of negative. We must try to find God in those places where we feel lost and alone. He is still present in even the darkest of places.
A beautiful and moving part of the story of Christ’s life is when He is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22). This is right before He is going to be crucified, and Jesus knows what is coming. His close friend will betray him to his adversaries, his body will be whipped and beaten, and he will be crucified. Yet Jesus doesn’t hate God, or spite God, or denounce God; no, Jesus prays. Jesus talks to God.
I think this is exceptional and amazing because it really shows Jesus as a broken human being. Knowing what was coming and knowing he had to go through with it because of his love for others, Jesus still was anxious, still felt immense anguish and grief – so he prayed.
I think we overlook the tremendous opportunity we have in times of trouble, times of grief. At church and in our own personal lives, we sing worship songs about drawing closer to God and pray that we will develop a deeper relationship with Him, yet we do not realize that times of trouble can be the times where we can lean on and draw close to God most.
God gives rest to the weary (Matthew 11:28) and will carry us through our troubles. He doesn’t promise things will be easy, but He does promise to be there with us. Hardship, as uncomfortable as it may be, can be used for good.
Finally, we must recognize that just because we have hardship doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. He loves us when we are in the midst of good times and bad times. He loves us when we love Him back and when we don’t.
Romans 8 talks about God being for us (so who can be against us?), and reminds us that no matter what happens in our lives, nothing can ever separate us from God’s love for us through Christ.
Paul, the writer of Romans, goes so far as to say that even death and hell itself cannot separate us, from God’s love (verse 38). No matter what happens in our lives, God stands by us. Trouble gives us, an opportunity for hope (Romans 5:3-4), an opportunity for growth, and an opportunity to draw closer to God. And close to God is the best place to be, no matter what sort of situation we are in.
01-24-2008