Don't Blame God

An old song came to my mind this morning: “Dear Mr. Jesus.”  Itcame out in the 80's and I haven't heard it for over 20 years now, so just randomly singing it this morning got my attention.  

It’s a song about child abuse, and even thinking about it brings up one of the hardest questions people ask about God....“If God is good, why does He allow things like this to happen?”

And I understand the question.

When you look at a child who has been abused, neglected, terrorized, or wounded by someone who should have protected them, it is almost impossible not to cry out, “God, WHERE WERE YOU?!”

Sometimes, though, we put the blame in the wrong place.

God did NOT create abuse.

God did NOT create cruelty.

God did NOT create hatred, exploitation, violence, or the desire to destroy something innocent.

SIN did that.

We were given the ability to choose, and sometimes.....humans choose unspeakable evil.

Don't be fooled though, God doesn't look at that evil with indifference.

It breaks His heart too!

We sometimes speak of God “allowing” something as though He stood beside it approvingly, when Scripture shows us a God who hates wickedness, defends the vulnerable, hears the cry of the afflicted, and judges those who harm the innocent.

The very fact that something inside of us screams, “THIS IS WRONG,” points to the truth that abuse isn't the way things were meant to be.

This world is broken by sin and that brokenness shows up in terrible ways. It shows up in the person who abuses. It shows up in families that hide it. It shows up in systems that fail to protect. It shows up when people refuse to believe a child because believing them would be inconvenient. It shows up when reputation becomes more important than rescue.

NONE of that reflects the heart of God! Jesus didn't come to defend darkness.  He came into it. He stepped into a world filled with cruelty, oppression, betrayal, suffering, and death. And ultimately....He Himself was beaten, humiliated, betrayed, and murdered by sinful men.

So when someone asks, “Does God understand what it means to suffer?”

Yes!  HE SURE DOES!  He entered suffering Himself.

And when a child is hurt, I do not believe God is standing at a distance saying, “This is fine.”

His heart is grieved. He sees what others miss. He hears what others refuse to hear. And I believe there will come a day when every hidden thing is brought into the light and every person answers for what they have done. 

We cannot blame God for the very evil He tells mankind not to commit. The problem isn't that God created a world where abuse is good. The problem is that mankind keeps choosing things God has called evil. 

Sin is the vandalism of what God created good.

And maybe instead of asking only, “God, why did You allow this?”

we should also be willing to ask....Why did that person choose to do it? Why did nobody stop them? Why did people look away? Why was protecting an adult sometimes more important than protecting a child? 

Those questions are uncomfortable because they put responsibility back where it belongs.
On sin, evil, and on human choices. NONE of this makes the suffering small and it doesn't erase the trauma. 

It means that the evil done to you was never evidence that God approved of it. What happened to you was evil precisely because it violated the heart and design of God.

And the Jesus so many people blame for the darkness is the very One who came to destroy it!