Why are we so quick to blame God for everything that goes wrong in our lives or in society as a whole? Let us go back to the very beginning when God created the earth. He created a perfect garden, and every herb and tree was in the Garden of Eden. The Lord also created every kind of animal on the earth. The Lord provided everything man would need to sustain life. Last of all, the Lord created man, perfectly in His image, from the dust of the earth. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7). When there was no helper found for Adam among all the creatures which the Lord brought to Adam to name, God formed a woman from one of Adam’s ribs. It was God’s heart’s desire that mankind would live perfectly in the Garden of Eden and have constant fellowship with Himself. In the cool of the day God came and talked with Adam.
The Lord gave Adam and Eve just ONE simple commandment to obey. “And the
Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely
eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in
the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). However,
one day while in the garden, the serpent tempted Eve. “And he (the serpent)
said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of
the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you
die.” (Genesis 3:2-3). After a bit more enticing by the serpent, Eve gave into
the temptation and took of the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, and he
ate. Adam and Eve directly disobeyed God. They had sinned, and fell.
As a result of man’s disobedience, the
whole human race, as well as all creation, is paying the consequences which God
laid out before Adam and Eve. God is not to blame for man’s wrong doings – the
suffering and pain we see all around us can be traced back to man’s
disobedience to God. Because God is Holy and cannot look upon sin, He laid out
the consequences before Adam and Eve. God told Eve that she and all women
throughout history would give birth in pain and that her husband would rule
over her. (see Genesis 3:16). God told Adam that the ground would be cursed and
in toil man would eat of the ground’s fruit. The ground would bring forth
thorns and thistles. In the sweat of his face, man will eat bread. (See Genesis
3:17-19).
The Apostle Paul states that all of
creation has been groaning ever since man first sinned. Like us, creation
cannot wait to be liberated from the corruption it has suffered until now.
“The creation itself also
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty
of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans
and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but
we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption,
the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:21-23).
Ever since the beginning of time and man’s
history on earth, it was man who sinned and is responsible for all the
suffering and pain that is in the world today. God desired that man would live
in a perfect world. But man threw all of that away when he chose to disobey God
and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For that reason, no one
can blame God for the way the world is today. Someone might ask me as a
disabled person if I blame God, or think He is fair for allowing me to be born
this way. My answer, first of all is, “No, I do not blame God for being
disabled. We live in a fallen world, and these things just happen as a result of
man’s sin. Do I think God is fair for having allowed me to be disabled and in a
wheelchair all my life? My answer is, “Yes, I do think God is fair for allowing
my disability. All my life I have wanted to use my wheelchair as a platform for
the display of God’s grace and glory.”
There is another incident in Genesis, just
a few chapters over. When men began to multiply on the earth, and the sons of
God were taking wives of the children of men, God was displeased. “And the Lord
said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with men forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet
his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3).
We come to the time when the Lord was sorry
He had created man on earth because of his wickedness, and the thoughts of
man’s heart were evil continually. The Lord was grieved in His heart. “So the
Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth,
both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I
have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just
man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:7-9).
The Lord told Noah that He was about to
destroy the earth and all that was in it. But because Noah found grace in His sight, God
told him to build an ark with specific instructions as to how to build it.
“Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” (Genesis
6:22). Then the Lord instructed Noah as to which animals and birds should be
with him in the ark. “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the
earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the
earth all living things that I have made. (Genesis 7:4).
When the flood was over and all the water
had receded from the earth, the Lord told Noah that he, his family and every
animal, every creeping thing, every bird and whatever creeps on the earth could
be released from the ark. The first thing Noah did, once on dry land, was to
build an altar and offer a burnt offering to the Lord. If we had just been
delivered from a very lengthy trial, would we, like Noah, offer a sacrifice of
praise to the Lord? Would it be the very first thing we would do?
“And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then
the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s
sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, nor will
I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21). God made a
covenant with Noah that He would never again destroy the earth and everything
in it with a flood. “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the
sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13).
Now we can ask the question, “Who was
responsible for causing the flood?” Although God used it as a way to purify the
earth of man’s evil intentions, it was man and his evil imaginations, and violence,
and continual wickedness that led to it. Left to himself, man always turns from
a holy God instead of towards Him.
Instead
of blaming God for everything that goes wrong in our lives as individuals, or
in society as a whole, let us remember why everything fell from its perfection
in the first place; man’s disobedience to God. Ironically, the very One we tend
to blame when things go wrong, shows us unfathomable mercy by providing a way
out of this hopeless disobedience, suffering, and death. God redeemed mankind
to Himself by sending His Son, Jesus, to live and die on the cross so we could
be forgiven of our sin and live forever with Him.
Would you like a relationship with the One
who made you and offers you such an undeserved gift? Would you like to repent
of your sin and turn 100% to living for Jesus and having a personal relationship
with your Heavenly Father? If so, pray: “Heavenly Father, I repent and turn
from my sin. Please forgive me and let me live my life for You. Amen.”
If you have a Bible, start reading in the
Gospel of John, which is the fourth Book of the New Testament. If you don’t
have a Bible, try accessing one online. The Book of John will explain how much
God loves you and what Jesus has done for you in dying on the Cross for you.
By
Cindy Mead
