Defending God

I’ve gotten into a bad habit lately of defending God. My obsession with defending Him is almost always in one specific area, and that is His goodness.

What do I mean by that? Let me give you an example- I often hear people say things like “God caused this to happen” or “God did this to me” or “why did God do….?” These statement almost always proceed a statement about some terrible event, deadly disease, or absolute tragedy.

I am more upset when I hear Christians say things that are lifted from the Bible in fragments that are absolutely disconnected from the context of the book they’re in or even the verse they’re in. Here’s an example that I’ve heard more than once “…we know that God causes all things…”. This is a misquoted allusion to Romans 8:28 and somehow is used to imply that when their is good or evil God is the author of it. In fact this verse says “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.” Causing things- including tragedies- to work together for good is quite a different thing than causing all things to happen.

Let me give an example, I know a young man in the Central African Republic who lost both parents to AIDS when he was a boy. I don’t for a minute think that God caused the death of his parents. His parents died from a disease – disease was not part of God’s creation but came into the world when Adam fell. AIDS itself is also often contracted through illicit sexual activity or intravenous drug use. Sadly there are many others who contract the disease because of someone else's behaviors and are innocent victims.

As a result of this boy’s parents dying he was raised in a different home by Christians who taught him about the love of God and he eventually became a believer. Today this young man leads a class of children, many of whom have also been orphaned by AIDS.

God was able to use (not cause) this terrible situation and use it for His glory and to build this orphan into a man of God.

So do I need to defend God? No. He is more than able to defend Himself. Yet I will continue to deliver a message (which is itself the very core of my defense) that a dear friend taught me- “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.”

My personal verse (?)

What I would call my personal verse has changed over time, but over the past couple years this one has stuck with me.

See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;
(Exo 31:2-6)

What does this mean? It’s pretty simple, when God needs something done- He will equip and enable the right person (or people) to do it.

Working for a reward?

This is a Do It Yourself blog post.... so get your Bible out before continuing.

The other day I was listening to a podcast about Matthew 6:1-6 (please go read it, this blog should still be here when you're done)....

It got me thinking about how God rewards people -vs- man rewarding people, and the motivation for why I (or anyone does what they do).

The funny thing is that I tend to not think about doing things for a reward (from men or God), but that doesn't change what Scripture says about it.

God is a rewarder of people who are seeking after Him ( go ahead and look up Hebrews 11:6 if you still have your Bible out.)