Blaming God



And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ..(1 John 1:10)

We know that God is love and light. He has brought us out of darkness and given us eternal life with Him if we accept the gift of His son Jesus Christ. All good gifts come from God. He loves us, His children, His creation, and He gives us hope and the security of knowing that He is always with us.

The world we live in is evil and full of darkness, and negative things will happen to us all because of this. We have free will to make bad choices or to hang around with unsavory people. We know that death, disease, poverty, starvation, etc. are a part of this world. But there is no darkness in God.

We may think that God is taking away our happiness or that He has taken away our job, our family, etc. We often hear phrases referring to God giving and taking away. It is disturbing to hear this misuse of scripture.

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. (1 Samuel 2:6-7)

The notion that God takes away or brings low can be disheartening. To think that a loving Father would arbitrarily decide to take something away from us and make us miserable does not make sense. And it is not true.

When this idea comes up in God’s word, it is being brought by a person like Hannah in 1 Samuel, who is praying, or Job when things are not going well for them. In both cases they are recognizing God’s mighty power over everything and giving Him glory because He is all powerful. They are not accusing Him of being unkind.

He does have power over what is given and what is taken away. However, God, Himself, does not take good gifts away from His children. He gives them.

In this world, God will allow negative things to happen so that ultimately, we will live a more abundant life and have a closer relationship with Him. Allowing the evil of the world to move around us and to affect our lives, is a very different concept than snatching away something good.

We know, in Job’s case, that the devil was the one doing the taking, (allowed by God). Even though Job said it was the Lord whom had taken away his blessings, what was implied is that the Lord had and has the power to allow blessings to be taken.

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

We must be aware of the difference in meaning as we serve God and learn to trust Him. If we were to believe that at any given moment, God will decide to take away a blessing away, trust would be difficult. But God does not take His blessings away, He allows things to change as the natural world causes and if we make bad choices in our daily lives.

In the natural world, if we are hit by a falling brick, we are going to suffer pain and perhaps death. God is not taking away our life, but He is not waving a magic wand and stopping the brick from falling either.

We must stop blaming God for taking things away or causing bad things to happen. Remember where we live and who is the ruler of this world. Evil took charge when humanity fell from grace.


God is holy and just. We pray for and await the day when He will rule and reign here on earth. In the meantime, we pray that He will deliver us from evil and help us to make good choices, staying away from the temptations of this world that, at times, cause negative things to happen.

In addition, we are God’s hands and feet here on earth. We can stop some of the negative forces at work and do good to help bring about His blessings.

Praise and thank God for His blessings and put the blame for taking things away and making life difficult, where it belongs. God gives good gifts to His children.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11)

Prayer: Glory to you Lord for your goodness and your love. We thank you for all the good gifts you have given us and your protection from evil. We know that you have our best interests at heart and are constantly working in our lives to help us be more like Christ. Amen.



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