Checks and Balances...

June 16, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15-16.

Bad things happen. Correction, horrible things happen that we, as humans, cannot possibly explain. As soon as one of these events happen, we look back at our own past and examine whether or not we deserved something so horrible. Then we either say “If I had not done this then this would not happen” or we say “I have been so good. Look how many times I did these great things. How can this happen to me?” Humans can fall into the selfish mode of handling problems quickly.

Then most of us blame God. Even those who don’t believe in Him find some way to talk to Him at that moment. Regardless of which question above you ask, you feel anger. You tell God how mad you are, and ask Him how He could do this to you or how He could let this happen. Then you stop. You realize that you believe God did something horrible to you and if you do not shut up then He will do something else. Then you feel fear. Suddenly, your mind starts to crank and you begin to beat yourself up for what you said to God. You don’t truly feel guilty for what you said, you feel resentful because the only reason you are sorry is because you are scared He will do something else horrible to you.

I have been there. Things can become so painful that we lash out in every direction we can. I remember being a child, full of anger, and blaming God for everything.

Freeze this moment in your mind because it is the one where everything can go horribly wrong, and not because God is angry at you, but because you will beat yourself up over it until you do yourself completely in.

What is the real truth in this situation?

First, look at this situation. Look at whom you are accusing. Your thoughts have put God on trial for doing something bad to you. Although God is not capable of sinning, look at the following example to understand how to retrain your thoughts differently. If you knew that a defendant was standing trial for killing a small child, and you wanted him put away so he could not hurt other children or your own, would you want to make sure the right person was the accused? Of course you would. It is pointless to blame anyone else. If you don’t have the right guy then the real person who killed the little girl goes free and she and her family get no justice. Also, he is out in society to kill other children and we get no justice either.

God is not the one who harmed you. The wrong one is being accused when you think this way. Meanwhile, He wants you to understand how pure and innocent He is and wants to help you make this better. If you continue to blame Him, the real murderer escapes out the door.

Second, look at your thoughts. You blame God and then feel horrible for doing so because you think He will do something else bad to you. You think to yourself, “He heard me. What am I going to do? He will never help me now. Wonder what He will do to get even for this.” Then you concentrate on those thoughts and start to feel resentful. It does no good.

It does no good because when you were asking God “why” this was happening to you and yelling and screaming at Him, He wasn’t hearing things the way you were thinking them. The loving Father of all creation who would send His Son to die so that you may have life is the Author of everything good that we know, love, mercy, justice, faith, kindness. That is God. He is not anger, resentment, and bitterness. From a perspective that you cannot understand because you are human and because you are angry, He is hearing you yell and scream and noticing how positive you are being at the same time.

How in the world can that be true? Because when you are yelling at God and saying, “Why me? Why did you do this?” He hears you say, “God I know that you exist and that is why I am talking to you.” When you yell and say “How could you let this happen to me?” He hears you say, “God you are all-powerful, and the Creator of the Universe and you are all-knowing.” When you yell and say, “Why aren’t you making this better?” He hears you say, “God I know that there is nothing you cannot do, I need help. God, I need you.”

As the Author of everything good who is so perfect He does not think negatively like we do, that is what He hears. His mind is not tainted as human minds are. He sees the good in what you do.

Third, look at your reality. Most people want a government who operates on checks and balances. We want people to know they will go to jail if they do bad things, and we want to make sure that we keep others in “check” with that threat. We want government branches to be separate, such as the legislature, the President, and the judiciary, so we can make sure no one becomes so powerful they trample on our freedom. Those governments historically have run smoother, and are not subject to being taken over by the military of a crazy group of people who want to run the country and kill everyone. That makes the most sense for us to do to live in peace. It feels secure and good.

As the Author of everything good, where do you think we got the idea from? God. He is operating in a system of checks and balances also. If He did not, there would be no consequence for sin, no motivation for us to do good things. We would all walk around only looking out for ourselves and never holding anyone accountable. Known child molesters would be free to teach kindergarten and committing murder would be something you could say “I’m sorry” for and still live a normal life even though the victim cannot. What would you think about God if He allowed that to happen?

Fourth, look at what is truly important. After you yell at God for allowing something to happen it does no good to beat yourself up. Remember that Satan is the father of all lies, and everything evil and bad. He is the only one who will encourage you to question God, see that God is hearing positive things from it, and then turn it around and beat you over the head with guilt and resentment for doing it. As the father of everything bad and evil, guilt and resentment are two of Satan’s favorite weapons. Some find that hard to understand, but because he is everything that is evil and bad, don’t expect that he will make sense. Remember he knew to tempt Jesus by quoting bible verses, and he is very capable of tempting you to yell at God and getting you to beat yourself for ever doing so.

How do you overcome what you said to God? First, know the truth about what God really hears when you are saying those things. Second, even if you still feel horrible for doing it, remember that God sent His Son to die because He knew what you would do. You are forgiven. Do not let Satan beat you up with guilt and allow you to forget the biggest sacrifice that was ever made here on Earth. Concentrate on God.

Even though you may have been yelling “why me?” what you fail to realize is you were concentrating on Him, and He knows that. He sees the good in you even when you don’t and that is why He wants us on fire for Him, and He does not like us being lukewarm. He would rather have you yelling than denying He has the answers.

Fifth, look at the future. You are hurting and that is why you are talking to Him at this moment. Remember He is the One and only One who can turn this around and help you. That is why you were so mad in the first place, wasn’t it?

Not only does He have the answers, He also has the cure.