‘God, I know you’re not mean, but it feels like you are today’
I came across these two statements in my reading recently. A big part of me instantly agreed even though I wasn’t quite sure what to make of statements that seemed to be quite blasphemous and irreverent.
When used as a verb ‘like’ can mean to take pleasure in; find agreeable or congenial:
The question begging then, is do I always find myself agreeing with God and the way He does things. When I see the suffering in the world and how people are treated it is something that is difficult to come to terms with if God is, indeed, in control.
To put it another way, we could ask the age old question ‘Why does God allow suffering’? I think it’s normal for anyone to have questions about suffering, injustice etc. and particularly those of us as image bearers of God - a God who is love and loves justice.
Do I agree with what God allows? Do I agree with how He seemingly puts up with all the suffering in this world?
So often in the Bible, we see people ask God ‘How long’?
Rev 6:9-10 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Psalm 13:2 “How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”
Psalm 94:3 “LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?”
I am sure as I write this, there are God fearing people in the war torn Middle East and other parts of the world asking the same question ‘How long?’.
‘Dear Lord, I don’t always like You’ all of a sudden has a different meaning when seen in this light.
Am I congenial (agreeable) to what He allows? How presumptuous of me even to ask such questions. But when you’re in the midst of deep suffering, it is ok to question God. We ask why is God allowing us to go through this trauma with our son? Others ask why so many lives lost with the tensions in the Middle East?
The BIGGER picture
We may not always like what God allows, However, God sees the bigger picture, His creation from beginning to end, His plans and His purposes. We only see the small fragments of our own lives, the pieces of the mosaic without seeing how they fit together into the whole picture - the beautiful finished completed artwork.
We may not like God in what He allows but we are called to love God with everything, in spite of our circumstances…
Luke 10:27 “And he answered, “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”
Joseph struggled with God when he was forcibly sold and taken to Egypt. Yet God used great distress for His good. Genesis 37-50. The same could be said with Job when devastation stripped everything but his life from him, yet God blessed Job’s latter years more than his former. Job 42:12
God is God for a reason. We are not God. He allows and purposes things for a reason in spite of us being disagreeable.
Are we content with our son Nathanael being left unable to walk and talk? Of course NOT. But we have to trust God that He will show us how this is working for the greater good of everyone.
Prayer - Dear Lord, I don’t always like You because of what I see happening in Your world. But I do love you because You first loved Me and sent Jesus. I don’t understand everything that’s going on right now, but I trust You that you have the bigger picture in view. So help me to trust you in my suffering and the suffering of so many people in this world. Amen
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