I get so tired of hearing people blame things on God. The media talks about storms as "acts of God", as they destroy people's homes and lives. I hear people say that God gave them that disease or deformation to humble them or to teach them a lesson. In too many funerals I've heard the minister or a member of the family say that "God took them". All of these are false and we've got to stop blaming God.
Before I move on, I want to deal with the elephant in the room. There are some who will read this and think, but what about all those times in the Old Testament when God was killing people with earthquakes, diseases, and enemies? That was all before Jesus came and died for our sins. God's wrath was being poured out on disobedient people in the Old Testament, but from the death of Jesus on, justice occurred on the cross, so we aren't seeing God's wrath in storms, earthquakes, and diseases.
John 10:10 (NASB) says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Satan/the devil is the thief. He is alive and well on planet earth and reaping havoc in our world and lives. That said, we can't really even blame the devil, because it's really our carnal mind and flesh that causes the problems in our lives and throughout the world. James 4:1 (NLT), "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you?"
These evil desires come from the sin nature that every human is born with. It all began in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. When they chose to be disobedient to God, sin entered the world and from that point on we've been dealing with those evil desires - "sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties..." (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT)
Satan's power only extends to persuading us to operate carnally, rather than spiritually . . . to walk in the flesh, instead of the Spirit and that happens only when we allow it. Even much of what we see on the earth - storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, etc. are caused by sin in the earth. In Genesis 3:17 God tells Adam that the "ground is cursed because of you." Romans 5:12, 14 both refer to death entering because of Adam's disobedience. This is spiritual death for humans and physical death for humans, animals, and the earth itself. The many "natural" disasters are actually signs of the sin and death.
So, if we are going to blame all the bad stuff happening on the earth on someone, we need to look in the mirror and not blame God, because He is good all the time!
Comments