When something bad happens, our natural tendency is to look for someone to blame. Think about children. When something breaks while the children are playing or someone gets hurt or they get caught doing something wrong, they always seem to look for someone else to blame. “Billy did it! Darla made me do it! It wasn’t my fault!” That inclination seems to stay with us, unfortunately, into adulthood.
However, too often, as adults, when something bad happens in people’s lives, they look to blame God. This happens for a variety of reasons: sometimes the pain is unbearable, sometimes there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable explanation for the events, sometimes we listen to what others are saying. Let us take a moment and remember something about our God.
Everything about our God (read that again: E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G about our God) is GOOD. That is the essence of His very nature. Throughout the Old Testament it is repeatedly stated, “The LORD is good” and “He is good.” David said, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psa. 34:8). When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and called Him, “Good Teacher,” you remember how Jesus responded. “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matt. 19:16-17). Jesus affirmed for us that the very nature of God is goodness.
This is borne out in how God deals with man. The commandments that the Lord gives for us to observe and to follow are “for our good always” (Deut. 6:24; cf. 10:12-13). When it comes to His children, our “Father who is in heaven” is ready to “give good things to those who ask Him” (Matt. 7:11). For, the reality is, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). The special providence of God for His children ensures that “all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). The very nature of God is goodness!
So, when bad things happen, let us not blame God, for He is not to blame! Bad things do happen to good people—just ask Job. They happen because “time and chance happen to them all” (Ecc. 9:11). They happen as a result of choices that we make or choices that others make (Deut. 30:19; Prov. 3:31; 12:26). They happen because of the evil, deceptive, conniving nature of the devil (2 Cor. 11:3; John 8:44; Gen. 3:1-4), who is seeking to “devour” us (1 Pet. 5:8). They happen because our world is full of evil people who lie “under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19).
Our God is good always! Let us give thanks for that!