With so much suffering, some Christians say we ought to forgive God.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and, believe it or not, there is a strange teaching around these days that says we need to forgive God when awful things happen… not only earthquakes and tsunamis, tornadoes and hurricanes (the big stuff), but little things. When people have gone through deep pain or hurt, an abusive situation at home, some Christian counselors advised that in order for emotional healing to take place, one begins by first forgiving God for allowing the abuse to happen.
This whole thing recently came up with my elderly friend, Roy. He's struggling against the last stages of macular degeneration, but that's not all. The city where he lives is buying up the property his house is built on; he may lose his home. He's also losing his son-in-law to cancer. Although a Christian, Roy is confused. Some people have counseled him, "Roy, you need to forgive God for all this!" Forgive God? Don't those counselors have it backward?! The Bible never directs us to do such a thing. To "forgive" God implies that he has done something wrong, but has he?
Listen to this story from the Bible. It’s from the book of Job, right in the first chapter and right after all those happy things began happening to Job. Starting with the 18th verse, it says, “… another messenger came and said, 'Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind … struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead…' At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. (Now listen to this part). Then he fell to the ground in worship... In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”
The Bible says that nothing - not cancer, blindness or eviction from our homes; not even abuse from others – nothing can separate us from the love of God. So are we to forgive Him for loving us too hard? Our human inclination or, at worse, our darkest emotions may want to charge God with wrongdoing, but God's dealings with us are always motivated by love and concern for our souls.
So what is the right thing to do when we are faced with suffering that seems so bizarre and twisted and unwarranted? Listen to this great counsel from Hebrews 12:3. It tells us what to do; it says: "Consider him (that is Jesus) who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Amy Carmichael once said that we should never forget that the way of the Cross leads to the Cross; it doesn’t lead to a bank of flowers. And if we do think that the way of the cross leads us to comfortable things, all easy and bright, then no wonder we become surprised when the way is rough; no wonder we consider it strange when fiery ordeals come. Amy Carmichael said that if we're looking for a bank of flowers, then we know nothing of Calvary’s love.
So do we forgive God? No, rather it's asking God to forgive us. And that's why we preach the Gospel to ourselves every morning; we need reminding when it comes to the way of the cross. And to help you with that, I have three copies of this marvelous little Gospel booklet called "Set Free by Grace" that I'd love to send you; just head over to my radio page at joniandfriends.org for all the details. Finally, please let's not allow our emotions to deceive us into thinking God needs to be set straight… When it comes to suffering let's ask God to set us straight.
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JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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