Where Is God When It Rains?
Where is God When it Rains?
I’ve had so many people ask me why God allows bad things to happen. They rail at God, using the enemy’s dreadful acts as an excuse to avoid surrendering to God’s compassionate love.
When you encounter this attitude, when the devil’s acts get blamed on God, you need to ask a few questions. First, who determines if something is bad or good? We live in a big world where our God watches over all His children. Storms that cause flooding in one part of the world may very well provide a perfect growing season in another. If that perfect growing season is in a country that has suffered drought and hunger for years, the season is a blessing. One of the first things a Christian learns is not everything is about us.
When a child dies, God assuredly did not cause it. It is sad to see the light of innocence extinguished. God cares. He is present to receive the child home. What He does with the loss is He turns it into something that benefits mankind. The loss of a single child can generate research that will save the lives of many future children. It might involve a Go Fund Me account that rescues a family from debt and despair. Estranged family members might seek God, come home, and heal fractured hearts.
Second, why blame God for something He is far too compassionate and kind to do? Why do non-believers so often decide God, the very God they deny, is responsible for all the pain and violence in the world? Don’t debate these people. They aren’t seeking God. They are seeking to malign Him, seeking to escape His call, seeking to run from Him and take you with them if you listen to their rants. God does not start wars. He knows the human condition well. We start wars. We battle over politics. We fight over children and money and love. We put God in denominational boxes and then we fight over Him!
God is love. He teaches us to prefer others. He shows us forgiveness can cover sins of neglect, lies and broken promises. Love unifies. Hate multiplies. Once people choose sides, when they line up with others of like minded thinking, the stones, words and accusations fly. The enemy’s team is quite ready to brawl. Sadly, God’s team is often close behind. Not turning the other cheek, not giving our shirt as well as our jacket. Oh no. The slurs and taunts fly from both sides.
Third, which side are we on? I doubt the devil’s team thinks that’s who and what they are. They are entrenched in believing they are the good guys. After all, they see themselves as inclusive, tolerant and loving everyone. Except, of course, they don’t love everyone. They don’t love Christians. They don’t love the Bible. They do not tolerate anyone who doesn’t agree with them. They minor in acceptance and major in hatred. We see ourselves as being on God’s team. And maybe we are. But if we lump all of them in one big ball called liberal, one horrific problem known as godless, we have inadvertently joined them. We’re majoring in hatred too.
It’s a hard task to live in a divided world. We can see through the God haters. But we are still called to love them. Spiteful word battles do not win souls. Love wins souls. Turning the other cheek wins souls. Refusing to brawl wins souls. If you encounter someone who insists God is responsible for the state of this world, if you’ve kindly defended our Father, just smile, tell them God is Love and walk away from the debate.
God is good. All. The. Time.