Have You Ever Been Angry at God?

Have you ever spoken negatively about God? Have you ever come to a place in your life where you feel God has abandoned you? Have you felt He didn’t care about you or that He refused to acknowledge your plight? I think we have all felt lost where God is concerned at some time in our lives. Things happen that are beyond our control, and we feel God is not answering as quickly as we feel we need.

In Bible times, Malachi talked about people who had become disheartened where God is concerned. In Malachi 3:13-15 we read, “Your words have been strong and hard against Me, says the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You? You have said, It is useless to serve God, and what profit is it if we keep His ordinances and walk gloomily and as if in mourning apparel before the Lord of hosts? And now we consider the proud and arrogant to be happy and favoured; evildoers are exalted and prosper; yes, and when they test God, they escape (unpunished).”

It can seem like this sometimes- like the evil prosper while the godly wait and wait for their help to arrive. Yet in Malachi 3:17-18, God talks about how He feels about those who love Him. “And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be my jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.” God declares you and I to be His jewels because we are so very precious to Him. I like that!

He continues in Chapter 4:1 telling what happens to those who are not for Him. “For behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud and arrogant, yes, and all that do wickedly and are lawless, shall be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

In 4:2-3, He tells what is in store for those who love Him. “But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves (released) from the stall and leap for joy. And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts.”

So even though we often complain and speak negatively about God, He continues to love us. His promises to us are great and mighty. God is definitely worth having in your life. The problem is that God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” Sometimes it’s difficult for us to wait or be told that life is taking a different turn from what we had planned. Yet God knows so much more than we do. We have no way of seeing the whole picture, but God sees it all. I John 3:20 says, “…For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows (perceives and understands) everything (nothing is hidden from Him).” In Psalm 139:1-18 we read a long passage of King David describing how much God knows about him. “O Lord, you have searched me (thoroughly) and have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue (still unuttered), but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have beset me and shut me in- behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me. Your (infinite) knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it. Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be (the only) light about me. Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. For You did form my inward parts. You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret (and) intricately and curiously wrought (as if embroidered with various colours) in the depths of the earth (a region of darkness and mystery). Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days (of my life) were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, (could I count to the end) I would still be with You.”

He knows everything about you. He knows where you will be the most fulfilled and happiest. His plan will be the best place for you in every way. So stay close and connected to Him and to His plan for your life. Listen to Him. God is talking to us all the time. We just have not taken the time and effort to listen to Him. He wants to keep you from danger and put you on the straight and narrow path, but He will not force you there. It would break His heart, but you can go to Hell if you want to; it’s completely your choice. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”

Be patient. Stay in faith. Stay close to God, and be prepared for the extraordinary life He has ready for you!