In the past few days I have had two people claim that God hated them. I understand why they said it -- they were both struggling, both with different situations, but struggling nonetheless. They'd lost their footing and felt that God had turned His back on them in their times of need. So I could understand that in their frustration and anger, they would say those things. This doesn't mean that it didn't sting my heart to hear people who once claimed to love God say those things.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
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Tuesday, May 28, 2013
God Doesn't Hate Us
In the past few days I have had two people claim that God hated them. I understand why they said it -- they were both struggling, both with different situations, but struggling nonetheless. They'd lost their footing and felt that God had turned His back on them in their times of need. So I could understand that in their frustration and anger, they would say those things. This doesn't mean that it didn't sting my heart to hear people who once claimed to love God say those things.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
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