Have you ever had the gall to question God? You’re going through something hard, something unprovoked that’s not necessarily a consequence for your own actions, and something that doesn’t line up with God’s promises and you cry out Why, God – WHY?! There are a lot of people who would say that it’s persecution or that God must be trying to teach us something. Sometimes both of those things are true. Sometimes we face persecution and God is always wanting us to learn more about Him. But just because something bad happens doesn’t mean we’re being persecuted, and under the New Covenant, God doesn’t cause or bring evil to us as His way to teach us.
“Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you. For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:9-10 NLT
This is my go-to passage when the enemy tries to whisper lies in my ear about the author of my circumstances. Over a dozen years ago, my husband and I were trying to conceive. I didn’t see myself as naive because I had been through a bit of what life tends to throw at you. I remember the feeling of being invincible! God is for me, not against me. God is not angry with me – even when I mess up. Doubts started creeping in though when I miscarried. I couldn’t understand it. What was wrong with me that I miscarried? Shake it off… try again. Only to miscarry again… the second miscarriage was twins.
I shook my fist at God while doing a lot of ugly crying. Why, God – WHY?! Well-meaning people say some of the worst things during times of grief and confusion. We always want to have someone to blame, and God is one that seems to be an easy target. Some would say that God caused it to humble us. Some would say that He must have known something wasn’t going to go right, so He was really extending mercy. Others might say that it must not have been God’s will. Regardless of what people say out of ignorance, we often have a tendency to hold a grudge… against God.
We might start looking for answers in His Word. Instead of looking at the grace God lavishly poured out on the cross, we start looking at the seemingly harsh judgments He dealt out to the Israelites in the Old Testament. They were slaves, they wondered in the desert for decades, and God even handed them over to the enemy nations. They were exiles (forced away from their home) and captives (confined to specific boundaries under the enemy’s rule). We often assume that God is dealing with us the way He dealt with His children in the Old Testament. It’s what we tend to do when we’re hurting. This mindset causes us to miss the heart of God.
While there’s still so many things I don’t understand, and while I still mourn for the children I’ve lost, I decided a few years ago to make an effort to look for God’s grace even in the Old Testament… Some of what I’ve discovered has helped bring down the walls I unknowingly had built up.
Just some surface observations start with Adam and Eve. They should have died as soon as they ate of the wrong tree, but God covered them in grace. He literally sewed them clothes and covered them because what they had used (leaves) was inadequate – this is a picture of what was coming through Jesus’ sacrifice. Cain should have been put to death as soon as he killed his brother, but God extended him grace by allowing him to have time to repent. Did you know that we can see Cain’s change of heart in the names of his descendants? Even when the Israelites were in exile or scattered among other nations, God’s grace was on them.
In Jeremiah 29, God tells His people to make the best of their situation – a consequence of their own making but make the best of it. Build homes, plant crops, marry, have children – increase and multiply. He even tells them to pray for peace and prosperity for the cities they’re in! They’re in a hard situation, but God tells them that good can come from it. He promises that He has good things planned for them – a hope and a future. And He even tells them that He’s going to end their captivity and restore their fortunes!
It’s pretty easy to praise God when we have the restored fortunes. It’s pretty easy to praise God when we’re holding our baby for the first time. But what about praising God when our arms are empty? A favorite Christian artist of mine made a statement that made quite an impression on me. When we’re on this side of eternity, we’re going to experience pain and disappointment and tough times of waiting in the pits that show up in life – we’re not walking in the palace yet. But worship in the pit is one of the most beautiful things we can ever give to God because it’s not something we can give Him in Heaven.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I Peter 2:9-10 NIV
When bad things come our way – and they will – I challenge you to seek God for answers, not question Him as though He’s the culprit. I look back at those miscarriages and wish I could take back the times I shook my fist at Him and the thoughts I had about and towards Him. I wish I had been praising Him in the depths of the pit I had found myself in. The world rails at God enough, and we’re not supposed to be like them. We’re supposed to be set apart. We’re supposed to turn to God when bad things happen, not turn against Him. When we’re in the worst situation – in the deepest pit around – that’s when we need our Father the most.
Part of our freedom from captivity comes when we learn more and more to trust God. Faith comes and grows stronger as we hear the truths in God’s Word. We can’t expect to have a strong relationship with God if we’re not willing to set our devices down and open our Bible. It’s not an issue of salvation, but we’re not doing ourselves any favors when we soak up reel after reel instead of verse after verse.
Get to know the One who sewed clothes together for Adam and Eve, extended grace and mercy to Cain, and gathered His people from the corners of the world. Your life will be forever changed by getting to know the One who took everything of the fallen nature – sin, sickness, and disease included – and nailed it on the cross. When we know God, we won’t be able to stop praising Him – even when we’re in the pit.