08 Jan Don’t Blame Me (Why do bad things happen to good people?) [Part 2]
Good God! Bad devil! Cursed world! Stupid people! The latter three is why bad things happen to good people! My God is not a car-wrecking, cancer-causing Creator…He is a loving, life-giving Lord!
Last week we began to share with you “6 Barometers for Not Blaming God”:
1. To truly understand the will of God, look at three places un-marred by sin:
a. The Garden of Eden (before sin)
b. The life of Jesus
c. Heaven
2. Will the real God please stand up (II Cor. 5:19)!
This week let’s continue…
3. Remember the causative versus permissive tense of the Hebrew language (Amos 3:6, Isaiah 45:7, I Samuel 16:14).
Here the Bible tells us, “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6). Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” I Samuel 16:14 says, “But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and en evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
Without even the smallest understanding of the Hebrew language, you know God didn’t cause these atrocities. That wouldn’t flow with the rest of scripture (see James 1:13, 17, Acts 10:38 and John 10:10). Remember the cardinal rule for Bible interpretation: all scripture must be interpreted in light of its context and in light of the whole. The Bible is a progressive revelation. This means all information must be interpreted in light of the latest information. In other words, if we begin a relationship and I discover your name, background, career, etc…each time I receive new information about you, I now must interpret any old information in light of the most current information. In biblical terms, I must interpret all Old Testament information in light of the New Testament.
In our English language, we simply have a “causative” tense to our verbiage. Johnny robbed the bank. In this sentence Johnny directly caused the robbing. However, in the Hebrew language there is both a causative tense (Johnny robbed the bank) and a permissive tense (I allowed it). So much of what looks like God causing in the Old Testament is simply God allowing the free will of man to choose.
If you will notice, there is very little revelation about the devil in the Old Covenant. Also, you never see Moses or Elijah directly rebuking the devil. This is very understandable as they couldn’t, because the devil had not yet been defeated (see Colossians 2:15). Therefore in the minds of Hebrews at the time, it was difficult to distinguish between the work of God and the work of the devil.
4. The devil is the god of this world system (II Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:2).
The Bible tells us, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:4). The word “world” is the Greek word kosmos, which means “world system”. How did the devil become ruler of this world system? The Bible tells us, “the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof” (see Ps. 24:1). Therefore God is the apartment complex owner, if you will, when He created man He leased this apartment to mankind (Gen. 1:26-28). When Adam bowed his knee to temptation in essence, Adam subleased his apartment to the devil, making God’s enemy the god of this world system (see Luke 4:4-11).
Many years ago, I used to live in an apartment and you and I both know the owner can’t come barging in to each apartment anytime he wants to. The new landlord (the devil) wants to steal, kill and destroy (see John 10:10) and the apartment owner (God) is working to be invited in to bring life and it more abundantly (see Matthew 6:1-11)!
5. We live in a cursed world (Rom. 8:19-23).
The Bible says here, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Here these scriptures are telling us this world is under a curse and longing to be released. Nature is out of balance and out of order. This is the reason you see hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, etc. Eventually the curse will be lifted off the earth during the millennial reign (see Isaiah 65:20-25) and nature will once again find the harmony it had in the Garden of Eden before sin. Some people teach that natural disasters are sent by God to teach us something, but if this is the case, Jesus sure didn’t understand this as He rebuked the storm that came His way in the gospels (see Mark 4:38-42).
Jesus taught about a time of tragedy in Luke 13:4-7: “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”
In these powerful verses, He did not assign the blame to God and He made clear that the people to whom the tragedy happened were not greater sinners than everybody else. Tragedy happens because we live in a cursed world and it then becomes an opportunity to examine our own hearts and repent. Remember this, God didn’t cause it, but tragedy is an opportunity for eternity.
6. Man’s choice is the devil’s permission (Deut. 30:19).
I was watching Christian television one day and became interested because they were showing the testimony of a famous country music singer here in the Nashville area. He shared how he had gotten in a terrible car wreck and ended up in the hospital flat on his back. Then he gave his life to Jesus. This country music singer then took it a step further and figured because it was in the hospital that he gave his life to the Lord, that the Lord must have caused the car wreck. As he continued to testify, he shared the real reason for the wreck. He was drunk as a skunk! What he blamed on God he should’ve blamed on two other people: 1) himself and 2) Mr. Jim Beam! As you can see, man’s choice is the devil’s permission!
Let’s go back to our apartment complex example. Ultimately, God owns the apartment (Psalm 24:1) and it will end up the way He wants it to! However, in the meantime, there are all kinds of bad things that happen in each apartment unit that God doesn’t control. Good God! Bad devil! Cursed world! Stupid people!