Questioning God

2007-01-09

In a Sunday school class once, as an introduction the pastor threw out the questions, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and “Why do good things happen to bad people?” My mind immediately went to a book with a title similar to the former question written a number of years ago. Now this author, whose life was seasoned with tragedy that prompted his views, came to answer this former question, “Because God is powerless to do otherwise.” Is this the conclusion we should adopt when looking to the Scriptures?

Habakkuk was gravely concerned with the same questions. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, he poses the concern that violence among his own people does not seem to be addressed by God; there is no apparent justice done when the wicked harm the righteous. God answers the prophet, promising that He will judge Judah by the might of the Chaldeans in verses 5-11. This prompts Habakkuk to ask another question... isn’t Babylon more wicked than Judah? Isn’t the Chaldeans’ empire built on violence? Interestingly enough, despite his lack of understanding of the world affairs of the day and God’s seemingly lack of involvement in them, Habakkuk braces himself for God’s answer in 2:1. Indeed, Babylon’s wickedness of violence and idolatry will (and did) reap an awful judgment.

Chapter 3 is Habakkuk’s praise to God. God is sovereign over creation: from the waters to the mountains. He reflects on God’s greatness in delivering His people, with both historical and eschatological significance (3:7, 12-13). Of great significance is Habakkuk 3:17-19 where Habakkuk pledges to praise God despite what his surroundings may look like.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus promises two things: eternal life and persecution. The former involves abundant life now and forevermore. Abundant life does not mean an easy life. When we trust Christ and have the knowledge of God that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, we come to realize that our biggest problem has been removed from our lives. We are imperfect before God and deserve judgment, and we are helpless to do anything about it. But Jesus died for our sin and imperfection, and we can be infinitely confident that His promise is real, since He rose from the dead.

The other promise of Christ was persecution. Persecution can be judicial punishment or it may be social exclusion and ridicule. But another aspect of persecution exists in the spiritual realm. The life of Job illustrates this spiritual attack. He lost his family, health, and possessions, and needless to say, he had a lot of questions that demanded answers. His companions came by, and these three men were convinced that Job sinned in some way. Sin is followed by punishment, and a righteous life always gets rewarded, according to human wisdom. Since antiquity humankind has believed this farce, and we still do today. Since we are the children of God by His grace, the enemy wants to see us stumble. God allows the enemy to strike at times with certain boundaries (Job 1:12). However, the intents of God and Satan are very different. Satan’s intention is for humankind to curse God to His face (Job 1:11). God allows these things to happen because the tested faith produces perseverance (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4). How much greater is our faith when we trust Him despite our difficulty seeing Him? And this is the desire of God, that we be conformed to the image of His Son, obedient unto death, that our lives be planted deeply in Him (John 15). If Jesus Christ, the only righteous One ever to walk the earth, was not exempt from suffering, then we should not expect to be exempt either.

In my life, many things threatened to take me away from ministry and from my walk with Christ. But the door the Lord opens no one can shut. Regardless of what I do, I cannot manipulate the will of God. He is the Wild God that no one controls, and we praise Him for that. That is why the questions I posed in the beginning are unreasonable; there is no formula to obligate God into giving us an easy life; this side of heaven we are left with the two promises of Jesus. The only way that the enemy can overpower us is if we let him do so (1 Corinthians 10:12f).

We live in a sinful world where the prince of the power of the air dwells and reigns. The walk with Christ is not easy, and everything in the world is trying to point us away from Him. But as image-bearers of God, our calling is with Him; all other roads we may choose are dead ends of despair.