Is God Responsible For Our Troubles?
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
An excerpt from a letter posted in a Christian magazine said: “If He loves you enough, He will bring difficulties and harm into your life to drive you to Himself.”
This teaching is not remotely like the truth.
First of all evil means harm and it is the very thing that God is opposed to.
Where does trouble come from? Who is responsible?
The truth is found in Deut: 30:19-20. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. places life and death before us, blessings and cursing---therefore we are to choose life and blessing.
(God implies in these passages that if a person chooses Him and His ways, it will be well with them. That‘s what He says in Jer: 7:23.)
Jer: 7:23: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Here is God’s explanation for why bad happens:
Prov: 1:20-33: Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22: How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23: Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24: Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25: But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27: When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28: Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32: For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33: But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
(In the passage below, God does say that He corrects His own. And this is one of the passages that makes people think that God causes their troubles, but I intend to show that trouble comes from choices people make. It’s the inevitable result of choices someone made. And if the person suffering does not have Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the harm caused by bad choices could be devastating and permanent. Correction and chastisement come from choices also, but because Christians have made a definite choice to trust and obey God, their choices are used for good--to teach them.
1Kgs: 8 describes how it works for God’s people. I’m not going to paste the scripture here, but 1 Kings: 8 describes how things go well when we worship Good and how they go sour when we stray and how we are reconciled to God when we repent and turn back to Him. (choices)
Ps: 91 teaches that if we walk in God’s wisdom and ways things will go well and if we get into trouble through other people’s choices, He will see us through and get us out and cause us to triumph. That promise is for those who love Him and believe on His name. (choices)
Then there’s God’s explanation for why bad things happen:
Isa: 3:10: Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. (choices)
Jer: 17:10: I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (choices)
Micah: 7:13: Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. (choices)
(In Lk: 13 and in Jn: 5:14, Jesus teaches that sin causes disasters. (choices)
In God’s instructions in wisdom in Prov: 3: 11-12, we learn that God does correct and chastise us. Also in Heb: 12:
Prov: 3:5-18: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.7: Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8: It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. 9: Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 11: My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 13: Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 14: For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15: She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 16: Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. 17: Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18: She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
Heb: 12:5-11: And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7: If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8: But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9: Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10: For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11: Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
(These verses are some of the ones that cause people to think God put our troubles on us to teach us. He does use trouble to teach us, but He uses the troubles that were coming our way because of choices (not always our own choices). If the right choices are made, trouble can be averted. If the right choice is not made because of ignorance or momentary disobedience, God can use the trouble to teach us not to do it again.
In the reference in Hebrews, Paul is talking about enduring hardship. That is done by choice also. The holiness spoken of means to be set apart for the Lord. Therefore enduring hardship for the gospel’s sake is a choice that calls for steadfastness and discipline. God uses what others meant for evil to strengthen our resolve, determination, and loyalty that we may be holiness unto the Lord. (choices)
Another verse that makes people think God is behind their troubles is the one in 1Cor: 10:13:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
(This verse is most often quoted as saying; God will not put on you more than you can bear, but it says; He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to bear.
Who is the one who causes our temptations? We do and the devil does.
Jms: 1:13-14: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Matt: 13:20-21: But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21: Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. (Who initiated tribulation for the word’s sake? The devil. He wants people to distrust God. How does the devil do it. He pressures people to make wrong choices. He is the liar--the prince of the power of the air. Jn 8:43-44 and Eph: 2:2)
Jn: 10:9-11: I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Sylvia Huffnagle
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