Blaming God

An individual going by the name of "Questioning Brother," made the following comment: 

"God through action (being the direct cause) or inaction (not intervening to prevent) destroys almost everything I care about having. God does nothing (again action/inaction) to help me while I beg for help. God continues to pile spiritual things on me despite the fact that I don't care. And somehow, this is supposed to make me love and trust him. Can anyone explain how this is supposed to work?"

When I read this, my first thought was not to accept the premise. The premise is that God is to blame for their life circumstances. Unfortunately, many believers blame God before they look at the decisions they make in life that result in the outcomes they do not like. It should not surprise us. Blaming God runs in our blood. The moment after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God went looking for them. "But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate. (Genesis 3:9-13)" God asks Adam, "Who told you that you were naked?" Adam doesn't answer the question. Instead, he responds by blaming both God and Eve for his disobedience by saying, "The woman you put here with me ..." It doesn't stop there. God turns to Eve and asks her, "What is this you have done?" Like Adam's response, she shifts the blame off of her and toward the devil by saying, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." She told the truth but still did not take full responsibility. 

The idea that what happens in our lives is God's fault comes from believing in a God not found in the pages of scripture. What do I read in the Bible? I read Jesus Christ saying, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45)." At another time, Jesus says, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33)." Therefore, when trouble comes our way in life, we should not take the attitude that God is sending problems into our life. We should take it as confirmation of His word and His promises to us. I believe this is why Jesus told us these things to give us peace. We have peace because when we have trouble in this world, it means that God is telling us the truth about life. That through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have overcome the world. 

With that in mind, here is my response to "Questioning Brother." "The accusation that God is destroying almost everything you care about through direct action or inaction is not something in the Bible. He has not promised you that He will give you things or take them away as a Christian. You say God doesn't help you when you "beg for help." Maybe because there is something you need to learn in the struggle that is the help you need. Perhaps, what you consider as God's help is not what God sees as help. When it comes to "God piling spiritual things" on you, despite you not caring, it is wrong in two ways. One, experiencing "spiritual things," doesn't mean they are from God. Two, if you don't care, that is your problem, not God's. Maybe you don't love and trust Him because you have unrealistic expectations of God and misplaced dependencies on specific outcomes you desire as qualifications for you loving and trusting Him. I think you need to ask God, "What is it about You, my life in Christ, and the circumstances I am struggling with that I don't understand?"

In Hebrews 4:16, it says, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." In our time of need, our first impulse should not be to blame God for the events in our lives, but approach Him with confidence because our circumstances do not separate us from Him. They should drive us to Him, where we can ask, "God, why is this happening?" Rather than pointing the finger of accusation at Him and asking, "Why have you done this to me?"