Five Things That Happen When We Decide to Blame God by Trudy Samsill
If we have lived long enough on this spinning ball of earth and water, we have had many opportunities for pain, disappointment, and hopelessness to set in. Something will happen that shatters our hearts and many times our world. And “it” can come in varying forms too: illness, job loss, broken relationships, sudden death.
What often happens after devastation enters our world is we do the unthinkable, something unutterable even to our closest of friends. We blame God.
When “it” strikes, we are faced with a decision. We either fall to our knees in anguished prayer lifting hearts and souls and lives up to the God who made us, or we stand with knees locked and necks stiff in the face of our trial and pain pointing a rigid finger heavenward at the all-loving, all-knowing God of this universe.
Our response to “it” can wreck us or revive us. It can cause us harm or help.
From my personal experience with blaming God, here’s a truthful look at what happened.
1. I forgot where I was from. Quickly, when the blame was focused on God, I lost sight of my home, my true, eternal residence. This temporary, fallen, sick, sad world became my new location and where I chose to reside, forsaking the hope set before me because of the pain and disappointments in front of me. I forgot this is a fallen world full of trouble and sin and evil.
I mistook earth for heaven.
2. Who I idolized, who was on the throne of my heart and the focus of my devotion, shifted. The One seated on the throne was de-throned as soon as I pointed my finger in His face and thought I could do a better job at managing my own life. King Jesus was replaced with Queen Me. Ironically, the Big “It” didn’t like to share the throne and I was shoved out of the way. “It” became the new ruler of my mind, heart, and emotions. (“It” always takes over, even when we think we are the one in charge.) “It” became my idol, the thing I cried over, fought with, dreamed of and thought about, hated, despised, and even ignored, knowing it was still there. “It” ruled me.
3. I began to see God in a different perspective. The constant unanswered questions of “why….why not….what happened….what were You thinking….” changed my vision. Like looking through a kaleidoscope of blacks and grays and murky whites, all I could see after the blame set in was my disappointment in God. Disappointment in Him changed my view of Him. The One True God I once revered and once trusted, was reduced to a magic genie in a bottle that I had held in my hands, demanded of, spoke my wishes and desires to….who then failed me.
4. Blaming God taught me how to strategize. How to plan. How to control my circumstances, my emotions, my heart. I moved from a once enjoyed realm of trust to a despised, what-I-thought-necessary realm of control. Disappointments lead to blame. Blame makes no room nor need for trust. “It’s all up to me now” became my unspoken motto.
God proved to be “untrustworthy” in my life so I was left with no choice but to control everything in my reach. I took the driver’s seat and booted God over to sit shot-gun as my passenger on life’s road.
If you are in the midst of hogging the driver’s seat, you know how difficult it is to navigate the road of life on your own. There are way too many ups, downs, sharp turns, and unexpected hazards to even attempt to drive the car much less not listen to the ONE WHO KNOWS THE ROAD AHEAD.
5. Doubt replaced belief. After “it” showed up and I chose to blame God, I began to wonder why He hadn’t followed through on His end of the deal. I doubted that He was there for me based on the pain and trouble I was experiencing, not based on His Word.
Why else did Jesus promise us (see John chapters 14-16) that IN THIS WORLD (the one you and I still reside in) there will be trouble, and then tell us that He overcame the world and sent the Holy Spirit to help us get though our “its” with His Presence, Peace, Comfort, and Guidance? Jesus promised this because He knew we would NEED the Holy Spirit’s help this side of heaven!
In a nutshell: there is trouble, the world is fallen, and we need help!
Now I need to pose a question:
When did reality (the stuff and happenings in our present lives) begin to dictate what we believe about God and who He is?
It is built in us to blame, to cast the responsibility of things gone wrong somewhere, anywhere but on ourselves. To point the finger away from us and towards another.
Adam blamed Eve. “She did it.”
Eve blamed the snake. “The snake did it.”
We blame too. “______ did it.”
When God’s name goes in the blank, I’ve learned from experience, that’s scary stuff.
May I remind myself and you:
We still live in a fallen world. And in this word we are promised God’s help, peace, and presence.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2 ESV)
Sisters, press in and press on! With God on your side, you can’t lose.
Trudy Samsill is a recent transplant from the Lone Star State of Texas to the beautiful Pacific Northwest state of Washington. She is an inspirational fiction author and micro-blogger who loves crafting words to encourage her readers and to direct them to God and His great love. Wife to the love of her life for over 30 years, mom to 4 adult children, and “Bama” to the most adorable grandson in the world, Trudy loves time with her family and time in nature. You can meet up with her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/trudysamsill