BeyondSeeLevel

Are you angry with God?

Recently, I attended a Bible class where we studied Psalms 23 for the entire month. The teacher asked many questions to prepare us for the study. He wanted us to reconnect to a time of hardship we’d experienced. 

He then made a statement that I struggled to receive. He said, “It’s ok to be angry with God.” He’s not the first I’ve heard say this. But each time I hear it, there’s something in me that just can’t accept this.

As I consider who I am and who God is, I’m reminded that we were created for God. God wasn’t created for us. When our perception of either is not aligned with how God reveals Himself and us in scripture, we end up thinking too highly of ourselves and not highly enough of God. This is one of Satan’s traps to discredit God in the eyes of people.

As we hold up Truth about God and ourselves in light of suffering, it helps us accept and understand the necessity of suffering for God’s children.

Jesus, Himself, said that He learned obedience by the things He suffered. 

He was sinless. We are not. How much more would we need to suffer in order to learn obedience, when we’ve actually been disobedient? 

Believe that even in your suffering, God will cause all things to work together for your good. (Romans 8:28)  This is why it’s so important to pursue humility. Pride will provoke a spirit of entitlement in us. Yes. We can expect blessings from God. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. But pride will cause us to believe we actually deserve those blessings. We don’t. It makes us forget what we really do deserve even on our best Holy Ghost filled day – the wrath of God. 

For those that reject God, they will suffer in this life. And they will suffer for eternity after this life. But all suffering is temporary for the child of God. 

When we experience suffering of any kind, we have to be especially watchful of our hearts. When life gets hard, not only do we struggle emotionally, but we also become more vulnerable to sin.

Job comes to mind. He responded to suffering in a way that we can learn some very valuable lessons from.

The Bible says that Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. He’s a real person with real emotions. So are we. There’s nothing wrong with responding emotionally when we’re hit with suffering.

Job grieved.

In addition to grieving, Job worshiped. It says that he fell to the ground in worship. I don’t believe he fell to the ground to worship. I believe Job was so emotionally distraught that he collapsed to the ground in distress. But there was something that Job realized or remembered about God and himself while he was down there. (This goes back to what I said earlier…how we perceive God and ourselves play a major role in how we respond to suffering.)

Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 

First, he acknowledged something about himself. He said he had nothing when he came into the world and he’ll have nothing when he leaves. Job is grieving because of his great loss. But he doesn’t respond with anger. He doesn’t accuse God of doing anything wrong. He acknowledges that God gives and takes away.

Job is letting us know that everything received in life is a blessing from God. It’s not a transfer of ownership. It’s an assignment of stewardship. God gave it and He can take it away. It belongs to Him anyway.

The Bible says, “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

If we’re angry with God, it’s a strong possibility that our perception of ourselves and our perception of God is not aligned with Truth.  Satan wants to discredit God. And he wants us to do the same. He knows tempting us in anger against God will accomplish that. Before we doubt God, we should doubt our doubt. The fact that God doesn’t make mistakes is not a cliche’. It’s true!

Understanding this, Job says “may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Even though God took away, He did no wrong. He took back what He had given. The enemy is trying really hard to program our thinking in ways that will cause us to reject God and His will for our lives. 

As difficult as loss of any kind can be, we must seek to have the mind of Jesus. Not my will, but Yours be done. 

Like Job, in spite of loss, tears, grief, sorrow and suffering, we will praise the Lord. “In all this, we will not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

*Tressa Jo