“And the Lord said to Satan,
‘Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” – Job 2:6
Why do we blame the devil when “things go wrong”?
Nobody
claims that life is perfect. Even the one perfect man, a former resident of
Nazareth, had more than a few things in His life that were pretty rotten.
Whenever we have things go wrong in our lives, we’re quick to curse the devil,
our bad luck, some less-than-holy colleague at work or school or wherever, or
some random happenstance that led to the terrible event. Whether it’s an
accident – kitchen, car, nuclear – or an illness – flu, staph, cancer – or a
life event – robbery, firing, paralyzation – we always want to have something
or someone to blame, especially when we can’t reasonably blame ourselves.
But
who is at the root of all evil? We’ve spent the last two thousand years
of Christianity (and more before that in Judaism) blaming the fallen angels,
and specifically the serpent in the Garden of Eden; the tempter of Jesus in the
wilderness; the hand behind the antichrist in Revelation: Lucifer, known now as
Satan, Prince of Power.
We
were wrong.
Because
Satan, like every other created being, can only do what he is allowed
to do. If we as Christians believe in the complete sovereignty of the
Lord, that in the beginning God created all things, that in the end He
is absolutely guaranteed to prevail as prophesied in Revelation, that
Satan has no power except what God allows him to use, as
demonstrated in chapters 1 and 2 of Job… then the only logical conclusion any rational thinker can draw is
that God is at the very least tacitly
consenting of any and all “bad news” that befalls anyone, anywhere in
the world, and as the controlling force in the universe, He is more likely the planner of that “bad news”, with full
knowledge of it in advance.
So,
blame God when things go wrong. If you’re willing to praise Him when
something goes right, it’s hypocritical to think that somehow He’s “out
of the loop” when a bad occurrence pops up in your life. If you believe in a sovereign
God, you must accept His responsibility when “bad news” falls in your
lap.
(Now, before you get your dander up,
continue following me down the rabbit hole and you’ll see where we’re going
with this.)
Read
Romans 8:28 again. (I say “again”, because it should be on your lips daily as a
Christian. If you don’t have this one memorized, stop reading this and get your
nose back in the more important Book.) “And we know
that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Think
about the “bad news” argument for a second, and then dive into Romans 8:28.
Do you see it?
The
reason we can live with the concept that God takes responsibility for all the
“bad news” that happens to us is that, to the Lord, there is no such thing
as “bad news”.
All
things work together for good to those who love God. (Those last five words
translate to “for Christians”, if you’re scoring at home. So, “All things work
together for good for Christians.” That’s you, and that’s me.)
Whatever
it is that happens in our lives – whatever catastrophic event ruins our lives –
it was allowed to happen to us by our Holy Father who loves us
beyond belief, beyond our feeble human power to understand what love means. And
that means that whatever the short-term
consequences of the event are, the Lord knows that in the long run, things will work out the best for you. Of course, the
rough parts of that are indeed rough; His idea of “short-term” is rarely the
same as ours, and “long term” may mean our Eternal benefit as compared to our
“earthly” benefit, meaning we won’t see the payout until we’re done with this
bag of flesh we travel in on earth.
The
great 19th century Calvinist Charles Spurgeon once said, “I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can
give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness… The good
that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether
incalculable.”
Our Heavenly Father is just as willing as
we are as parents, and probably more, to allow us to learn through making our
own mistakes and guiding us through their lessons. (Admittedly, unlike human
parents, He can’t tell us, Well, y’know I
made the same mistake when I was your age…)
In describing Job, the Lord said, “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and
upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:8) And yet, He allowed
Satan to commit terrible acts of hatred on Job – killed his children, removed
all of his wealth (livestock and servants), destroyed his health – not because
Job had sinned, but in order to prove
His point. Did He? Of course. Did Job wind up better in the end? Well, God
allowed him ten new children, a longer life and twice the wealth of before,
along with his strengthened faith, so you could certainly argue that he did.
God allows us to make mistakes, just as we allow our
children to learn in a safe environment – the playpen first, then toddling
around home, and then in school. When your kindergartener scrapes her knee, you’re
there to bandage and console her. When your teenager gets in trouble for not
completing homework, you’re there to help them develop a study plan at home to
help them overcome that difficulty. When your twenty-two year old has a few too
many and tries to drive home, you come bail him out and get coffee into him.
The Lord does the same thing,
after His fashion. Every “wrong turn” teaches us something we need down the
line – every “bad decision” has a silver lining He shows us later in our lives.
My first marriage was a “mistake” – a mistake that gave me lessons in standing
up for my own beliefs, working through adversity, and five beautiful children.
One of my four band directing jobs was a “wrong turn” – except for all the
teaching skills I learned dealing with the difficulties of that job.
And remember, not every
“mistake” we make is God’s fault. The Lord gives us free will so that our
worship of Him will be genuine – but that also allows us the opportunity to
choose sin without His immediate correction. (If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be
‘free will’!) The miracle of the Lord being able to see all of Time at once
allows Him to watch the probable consequence of that decision, evaluate it, and
“tweak” something farther ahead in our future that will either make that sin
constructive in our Walk towards Christ’s likeness, or guide us back onto the
Path towards Him. I can’t give you a certain example (or else I’d be God!), but
so much of my first thirty years as an adult seems in retrospect to have more
than anything been preparation for my life following my re-birth as a Christian
at age 48. The skills, talents, empathies, and abilities God gave me were honed
in my previous life as a teacher and as a band director.
So, if God allows “bad things”
to happen to you, repeat Romans 8:28 to yourself and know that somewhere in
that bad thing is the good that He has given you – whether it’s immediate or in
your future, it’s there. And if the “bad thing” seems excessive, as Job
thought, try considering this: Is it as bad as being viciously whipped 39
times, made to drag lumber through the streets drenched in your own blood and
sweat, and then having nails pounded through your wrists and feet to attach you
to a Roman crucifix to die a slow, painful death, with mockers around you at
every step? No? Well, I happen to know Someone who I feel very certain
didn’t cause this to happen to Himself through His own sin, and yet God allowed
this “bad thing” to happen to Him; yet, as bad as it was, all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Christ’s sacrifice allowed every Believer
the opportunity to use Him as their conduit Home to God when they die, and no
greater good has ever been achieved.
So, your “bad thing” may not lead to
the salvation of an entire creed of people, but remember that God has you in
the palm of His hand, even when you feel abandoned.
Trust Him. Praise Him for the “bad thing”,
and more importantly, praise Him for the good that will come out of it for you
in the long run.
Daddy
knows what He’s doing. He’s proven it over and over again.
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