It has been awhile since I posted anything (work, kids, play…) so why not get back into it with Some Sunday Blasphemy?

I’ve been struggling with a recurring concept I hear that God controls everything and nothing happens by mistake. I disagree completely, and think this suggestion is a root cause of why many other friends are challenged by faith.

Many people will use the familiar refrain: “How could there be a God with all the war and poverty in our world? How could He allow [insert terrible event] to happen?…” These people look at tragedy touching their lives or the world around them and resist the notion of God. Adding fuel to their resistance are suggestions that God somehow had it in His plan to allow this horrible situation to exist. It doesn’t make any sense, and I agree.

In my view, God is absolutely not controlling every action or outcome. I’ve said before that He does not dictate the outcome of a baseball game or traffic patterns on the highway.  And it is my belief that He similarly does not control mankind’s horrible actions towards one another, nor all the science swirling around us.  I personally believe that God likely gets very frustrated on occasion (just like us) by His inability to manage certain situations and people.

So what does God do for me?  In a world troubled by disease, war, and poverty, God instills in us the humility, the patience, and the grace to deal with difficult situations and perceived overwhelming obstacles.  He works from the inside out – giving us hope in the face of despair, optimism in the face of failure, courage in the face of fear.  Instead of challenging my belief in God with the thought of “if He exists, how could He let this happen?” I affirm His existence by the ability I find to handle or simply accept the situation presented with grace.

To me, we spend far too much time focusing on the external world when we think of God when His real work is done inside each of us.

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