God Is NOT Out to Get You

             People like to play the blame game more than ever these days. Part of this is greed, part of this is other immoralities, part of it is how we were and are being raised, and part of this is the sue-happy nation we have become. Guess what, the blame is not on God either. Just because bad things happen does not mean we, especially Christians, need to be blaming God. The world as we know it right now is ruled by the Adversary so things are going to happen to the best of us. But this does not mean we can blame every bad thing on our sinful nature either. Yes we sin and suffer the consequences either right away or over a period of time but those two factors are not to be blamed. Temptations and sin of man (mankind’s actions and words) have residual effects and cause bad things to happen to good people and visa/versa. Matthew 5:45 says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. It is because of the actions of man that we need to turn to God even when we believe we can handle the situation ourselves and gain a reprieve from the situation that ails us. When we give everything over to Him, we can rely on Him to walk with us through the problem no matter how long it takes to solve it. If it is not ours to solve then God directs those around us who are in the place to have the answers to do the right thing.     
                Of course, there is the bigger picture of when a majority of a nation has turned away from God and when we think we are at the darkest point, we cry out to God, some blaming Him when we should be praising Him. The more we praise Him and share His Word, the more heart we can soften (at least in theory). They say it takes a village to raise a child. Let us take that further by saying, it takes One to believe the Word (personal relationship), Two to share the Word (when two or more are gathered), a Group to reach the community, and a Nation in prayer to ask forgiveness.
              In the days of old, God judged the nation according the actions of the leaders. After Jesus came to us, that all changed. The personal relationship now has bigger ramifications on nations but at the same time there is still the personal. When the good and faithful are outnumbered, the nation falls. There are so many people who still blame God and saying that because of their sins life is miserable. NO the blame is your own for not paying attention and following God’s Word.
            What do we do now??? How do we convince people that God is not the blame or He has it out for us? Time to hit the Book and get into Apologetics. Explain who God is and our relationship to Him. Share God’s loving kindness as well as letting them know about His jealous streak. Let them know that there are 10 simple rules that are the easiest to break. But mostly let them know it is not Him, it’s them and they have the opportunity to correct themselves with God through Jesus.
Have a great and Blessed Day.  God Be With You.
Pastor Rob