He Giveth and He Keep Givething

A number of years ago I was attending a 12-step meeting when a woman started sharing about a particular tragic event she had gone through. She had an interview for a job that morning and awoke quite late. She rushed to get dressed and flew off in her car hoping to make it for the appointment. As she neared an intersection the light was changing and before she made it through it had turned red and another car slammed into her. The car was totaled and she had to be pried from her seat by the jaws of life. She was taken to the hospital with multiple fractures over her body and bruises and contusions every where. It was months before she was able to walk without a limp. She summed up her "share" by proclaiming that God was trying to get her attention.

I was aghast! Even at that early stage in my recovery I had a hard time believing that God could bring that kind of circumstance on somebody. The truth is that she had caused her own pain and suffering. She could've done any number of things differently. For instance, she could have made certain she had a better alarm clock. If that still wasn't good enough she could've called her would-be boss and explained that she was running late and needed to reschedule either for another time or day. By trying to run the light she assumed the responsibility of the consequences that were wrought upon her.

As I think of this woman from time to time, I'm reminded of all the times I keep hearing God blamed for all the terrible events that have gone on through out the ages. I hear people lash out at God for tragedies that are caused predominantly by man's own arrogance. The sinking of the Titanic, the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazi's, The atrocities committed in Vietnam, 9/11, hurricane Katrina. How could a so-called compassionate and loving God permit these things to happen? Why doesn't he prevent them? Even well-meaning and good-intentioned Christians have fallen victim to this trap. After the terrorists attacks I can't tell you how many times I heard how Godless a country we were and that God was dealing with our sin.

It's easy to blame God, especially if you've lost a loved one to a tragedy. But if we look at each example the culprit is within us. God didn't navigate the Titanic at full speed through an ice field with enough lifeboats for roughly half the ship's compliment. God didn't fester feelings of deep prejudice towards the Jews in World War II and build the death camps in Europe. God certainly didn't decide to shoot innocent women and children over in southeast Asia. He certainly didn't fly those three planes into those buildings killing 3 thousand people. And no matter how many people insist on calling it an act of God, he did not create the storm that devastated the Gulf coast, anymore than he was responsible for deciding to build a major metropolitan city 28 feet below sea level on a flood plane!

What I believe God has allowed is for us to somehow learn something about ourselves and use the experience ultimately for his good. Have you noticed that ships now have more than enough lifeboats and make a concerted effort to avoid hazardous situations at sea? There is now a war crime organization in the U.N. that is charged with investigating claims of brutality against civilians. The airline industry has addressed major deficiencies in how it screens its passengers, and a nation that once thought itself invincible has now had to accept the fact that it's not so high and mighty after all. And, hopefully, when New Orleans and the coast of Mississippi are rebuilt they will not be so vulnerable to the kinds of storms that brought their devastation in the first place.

Blaming God for our own arrogance is not only reducing God to a punishing God, it completely omits the role of human will in the history of man. Ever since the story of Adam and Eve we've been looking for someone else to blame. Adam had the first copout line when he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it" Gen 3:12

Give me a break! If I had been there in the garden I probably would've replied, "Yeah, and in few thousand years or so there'll be this bridge in a town called Brooklyn you can buy real cheap. I'll call you!"