Don't Blame God for Bad Days

RELIGION TODAY - January 26, 2008

It rained or was cloudy every day of our vacation. So much for a reinvigorating vacation in the South; or at least in terms of weather; but to be honest there was a lot about it that allowed for recharging the batteries. We were in Disney World after all, and I have to admit that just the very idea of being there brings a smile to my heart.

But why was the weather so bad? I am a reasonably good person, and I was taking my in-laws and young children there for the first time, and we were celebrating the last few weeks together as a family before my wife returns to her ministry at Mountain View – in my mind these are all good enough reasons that God would make it sunny.

Come on, admit it, you’ve thought this way too – “I am a good person so why is this happening to me?” This has to be one of the most primal of all religious questions. Despite our best efforts to the contrary we all think that we are the center of the universe and everything that happens, well, it should revolve around us.

There are religious people of every stripe who subscribe to this way of thinking. In Christianity there was a big surge of it when a book was published called “The Prayer of Jabez” in 2000 by Bruce Wilkinson. There is a very short passage in the Old Testament where someone most of us never remember reading about, Jabez, prays that his land and wealth may be increased, and they are. Well, this got Mr. Wilkinson to thinking that if we only pray hard enough...

This is remarkably similar to the Prosperity Gospel teaching that comes from some evangelicals and a lot of televangelists. There is, again, one passage in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 8:18 if you are curious) where it says that God will grant you the power to become rich.

There was also a popular book and DVD called “The Secret” which took away the explicit Christianity and said that if you ask the power of the universe for anything, and ask it long enough and loud enough – your wish will be granted.
Back to the rain; a very easy reality check would be whether or not it rained on your vacation in Florida. I mean, I spent months thinking about the sunshine, hoping for a good time, praying for everything to be perfect... and the clouds rolled in; never mind the fact that Central Florida is experiencing a drought and the amount of rainfall didn`t amount to the proverbial drop in the bucket... I am a Christian, I am a clergy person, and I am good. It SHOULD have been sunny! Right?

But come on, I have seen the best people I have ever known suffer needlessly and I have seen outright criminals prosper and be, by every category I can conceive of, blessed. God is certainly not a Djinn, or Santa Claus, or even our own personal fairy Godmother. I don’t claim to actually know who or what God is like completely, but I do know that God doesn’t work through wishes.

Here is the best I can figure so far – There is a divine purpose to the universe; God created everything hoping it would turn out in a certain way. But God did not want this to be a solo project, it was all about relationship – and so God made us to be co-creators and gave us a whole lot of freedom. We have enough freedom that we can choose to mess things up, and choose to go to Florida during the coldest two weeks of their season – almost everything is up to us; and it is that way because God loves and trusts us.

To be honest we have not done so well with this freedom over the last 10,000 or so years. Still, God believes in us and hopefully we will earn that trust.

But the main point of this is that God does not make one day sunny or the next rainy; God does not make one person sick and the next person well; God does not make one stock go up in value and another fall. Instead, God sends the spirit to remind us of the core values we need in order to survive, Love, Hope, Faith... and hopes we make the right choices in spite of the circumstances.

That doesn’t mean we should not pray – or hope, or change – It just means that whatever happens, good or bad, it’s not God’s fault.