Being Mad at God
Jan 10th, 2009 by ljkim
Being mad at God is a natural emotion (for us fallen human beings) and not some unforgivable sin… Usually it will fix itself on its own; it’s an emotion, and as such it’s not entirely in our control. But we shouldn’t try to hold on to this anger any more than we should try to stay angry at our parents for making us clean our room or do our homework. This kind of anger is irrational, and needs to be put away once we come to our right minds. Here’s what I mean:
There are a couple of different ways we get mad at God. One way is when we are living our lives however we wish and when something happens that upsets us, we blame God for it. Dysfunctional families sometimes do that…you kick the dog every time you lose a bet on the football game. The cost of doing as we please is that we are solely responsible for the outcomes and inability to predict the outcomes… Our natural human inclination is to live as our own gods; so it’s no use doing as we please and then blaming God for how sadly it turns out. That should be an opportunity to repent, have an open mind and confess, “Lord maybe I don’t know what’s best all the time.”
A second scenario is when we feel like we’re really living, not for ourselves, but for God. We are saints following in the footsteps of Jesus. When along comes some unfortunate circumstance that comes as a result of following what we know of God’s will. This prompts people like me to shake their fists at heaven and ask “Is this how you repay my faithfulness?” But, of course, a moment’s consideration would bring to light that I wasn’t being faithful at all. I mean, I may have been doing something externally that I thought was God’s way, but in my heart I wasn’t really serving Him, I was expecting Him to serve me. It’s makes no sense for a cab driver to complain about driving to his passenger, or a window washer to complain about all the dirty windows…that is why you’re there. It’s the difficult parts of following Jesus that show us who we’re really doing it for: am I following Jesus because His way is right? Or am I play-acting as a good servant so that I’ll be blessed with an easy life. The first promise Jesus makes to anyone who will follow Him is that you won’t have an easy life. The second promise is that, regardless of persecution, it will all be worth it, and in the end you wouldn’t trade your cross for anything…but you have to have your head on straight and follow Him for Him, and not for some ulterior reason (in hopes that God will grant you a spouse or money or fame or success).
I don’t know where this came from, I’m not mad at God right now and I don’t think I know anyone who is – but if you are, then cheer up, you’re in very normal company, and I think God sent this just for you.
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