Not My Actions or Choices, But Still My Consequences

In my last blog (Actions, Choices, and Consequences) I issued this challenge:

The next time you’re in a situation where you blame God, take a moment to remember the evidence of God’s hand in situations and people’s lives (see The Bible) and ask yourself the following:

Is this a consequence of MY actions and/or choices?

If not, what hand does God have in it? Does it show His power, test me, or use me as an example?

I examined the first part of that challenge: Is this a consequence of MY actions and/or choices.

My examination was solid, and I am confident in my conclusions that most of what happens to us is a direct result of something WE have done. I know that holds true in my own life, and I can tell you the reason I am so adamant about you taking responsibility for your own actions and choices is because I hold myself to that same standard.

Because I take ownership of my own mistakes, I try very hard to make sure my actions and choices are strategic to bring about the best consequences. I follow the rules! Even when breaking them wouldn’t hurt anyone and would help me, I follow the rules.

When you’re a Rule Follower, you will inevitably find yourself watching those who DO NOT FOLLOW THE RULES getting what you want but don’t get because you’re in the Chump Corner FOLLOWING THE RULES!

As believers, we understand the world works that way. Satan is on his throne here and messing with all God’s creation, so we understand the imbalance and unfairness of the world (especially towards us). But what happens when it seems God is also blessing those who don’t follow His rules while ignoring or denying those of us who ARE?

Maybe you’ve been praying for a promotion at work, and you’ve earned it, but the new guy who is rude to everyone else but kisses up to the boss gets it instead. Maybe you and your husband have been trying to have a baby and can’t, but you’re surrounded by unmarried women who have multiple children (sometimes by multiple fathers), or at the very least you turn on the television and see unmarried celebrities announcing new pregnancies/babies seemingly daily!

Maybe your loved one, who makes the world a better place just by being in it, is suddenly stricken with a terminal illness, and you and everyone you know are praying ardently for a miracle healing that doesn’t come, yet the world is full of evil, selfish people living their best lives.

What do we do when we do everything right, yet negative consequence after negative consequence keeps hitting us?

How do we continue to follow a God who blesses those who do evil while ignoring or hurting those who do good?

I don’t have an answer for us, but perhaps the question from the second part of the challenge will turn our focus in the right direction:

[W]hat hand does God have in it? Does it show His power, test me, or use me as an example?

There are two different stories from the Bible, both in the Old Testament, that I go to when I struggle.

The first is Job, and Job highlights God both testing a believer and using a believer as an example.

Job is described as a man who is blameless and upright.

“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.’ Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’,” (Job 1:6-8)

There are a few things to note here: God seems to be holding a debrief with the angels (interesting), and Satan shows up almost as if he’s just being nosy or bored. God allows Satan in His presence (curious), and when God asks Satan what he’s been up to (as if God doesn’t already know), Satan’s answer is vague and a little bit cheeky.

But what strikes me most is God throwing Job’s name out and putting him on Satan’s radar. Remember when you were in class, and the teacher was looking around for a volunteer? And you tried to be invisible? And it was working until your desk partner raised their hand and told the teacher you had something to say?

Yeah - it was like that! This movement of the spotlight onto Job begins a string of consequences FOR Job that had nothing to do with a choice or action on his part except the choice to be blameless and upright. Job followed the rules - he followed GOD’S rules - and that led to some Lemony Snicket series of VERY unfortunate events!

Satan challenges Job, and God, by basically saying the reason Job was upright and blameless was that he had no conflict in his life. Satan argues that if God’s protection were removed from Job, Job would curse God. So, God ALLOWS Satan to take everything away from Job but states Satan can’t harm Job himself. Satan goes to work and Job’s herds of animals were stolen and his children were all killed in a house collapse. In a single moment Job lost his family (except his wife, but that’s another blog altogether) and his wealth, but he refused to curse God.

God smirks (in a totally legit Godly way) at Satan’s failed attempt on Job, but Satan counters that since Job still has his health, he can replace everything he’s lost. Satan argues that if Job lost his health he would curse God, so God allows Satan to harm Job but states Satan cannot kill Job. Job is stricken with painful sores all over his body (and I mean EVERYWHERE). Job is in unimaginable pain, and his wife tells him to just curse God and die, but Job refuses. What’s more, Job tells her she’s a fool to accept the good from God and not the bad also. Then his “friends” come to see him and tell him to curse God, but again Job refuses (Job 2:1 - 8:22).

Finally, Job cries out to God (Job 9, 10) and asks Him to reveal what Job did, what choice he made or action he took, that caused Job’s suffering so he could repent and be restored to God. Then God steps in and shuts Satan down. Satan is cut off from hurting Job, God restores his protection of Job, and then blesses Job with even more than he originally had!

The story of Job is an example of curses that come to us not through actions or choices of our own, but because God has faith in US. He is proud of our devotion to Him, and will sometimes allow Satan to harm us to showcase that devotion. One of the best examples of this outside of the Bible is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In times where we experience suffering, and there doesn’t seem to be a connection between our actions/choices and what we’re going through, it may be because we are close to God that trouble comes our way. Satan is scared, and he doesn’t want us with God.

If you find yourself in a situation like Job where you just keep getting hit, and you have no idea why - pray! Pray for God to reveal your mistake if there is one and to strengthen you in the process. Because even if God is allowing your misfortune, He is ALWAYS in control - just like with Job.

[W]hat hand does God have in it? Does it show His power, test me, or use me as an example?

What if what is happening, or not happening, to us isn’t God testing us or using us as an example? What if it’s to show His power?

For me, this is my least favorite explanation because the result can be devastating for me in that God doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone and can quite simply refuse to take the bait.

In the book of Daniel, the Israelites are captives in Babylon. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, decided to make a huge gold statue that everyone would be required to bow down to, and anyone who refused would be thrown into a fiery furnace and incinerated. Three guys, friends of Daniel, refused to bow down to the statue. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (along with Daniel) were high up in the palace food chain, even as captives, because of their intelligence, so naturally others in the palace were jealous of them. So, these people snitched to the king that these three guys would not bow down to the statue. Nebuchadnezzar was furious but offered the men one last chance to bow down before the idol (Daniel 3:1-15).

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up,’” (Daniel 3:16-18).

The king was even more infuriated and had the furnace cranked up seven times hotter! It was so hot it incinerated the soldiers who opened it to throw the guys in. As the king watched, however, he was amazed because while he had three men thrown into the furnace, he saw four! The four were walking around like it was a day in the park and NOT a barbeque pit!

Usually the focus of this story is on God saving the three men for their devotion and refusal to worship an idol while converting a pagan king. It is a great story of triumph and standing firm against God’s enemies.

But…even amid their confidence in God’s deliverance, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego acknowledged the choice was up to God. Their faith was in the deliverance of God WHATEVER that looked like. They said, “The God we serve is able to deliver us from it (the furnace). But EVEN IF HE DOES NOT…” Even if He does not.

This is THE truth to stand on when you are facing a consequence that is unbearable and 100% NOT from a choice or action you made.

God WILL deliver us, but how He chooses to do so is up to Him, and more often than not it doesn’t look anything like what we think or wish it will.

Friends, even if you can’t hold onto the promise of deliverance, please hold onto the fact God loves you. No one loves you more.

NO ONE LOVES YOU LIKE GOD LOVES YOU.

So whatever trial, suffering, tribulation, doubt, temptation, etc. you’re going through…when there are no answers to your WHY...when there is nothing left, and you’re spinning out of control…

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remember to be still and know He is God (Psalm 46:10).

Because really, in every season, with every triumph and struggle, until we’re with Him in paradise…that’s all we NEED to know.

AMEN.