Many
people might have a reason to be
angry with God. Just think
about these real-life situations:
God
allowed my child or my
loved one to suffer and
die.
God
allowed my child to be
born with a birth defect.
I
prayed for deliverance
from a bad habit and God
did nothing.
I
trusted God and He let me
down.
I
hate the body that God
gave me.
God
did not protect me / my
child / my spouse / a
loved one from disaster
or accident.
I
prayed for healing / a
job / a relationship / a
passing grade and God did
nothing.
God
burns people in Hell for
eternity.
People can be
angry at God, but there is not
much any person can do about this
anger until he chooses to let it
go. If you or someone you know
would like to deal with being
angry, this Bible study may be
helpful.
Because the study
incorporates many Bible texts,
get your Bible out and read each
text as you go along. An easier
way to do this is to read this
article on our website (www.wake-up.org) and as you hover
your mouse over each reference,
the Bible text will
“magically” pop up in a
small window.
As you read,
contemplate the following six
points. Also consider the
relevant question: Is your anger
toward God justified?
God
is not like us. Before
we approach God with our
petitions, it is helpful
to understand a few facts
about Him. God is not
like us. No one in the
universe is like Him. (Isaiah
46:9) He
created everything and
owns everything. (Isaiah
40:28-41:4) He rules
the universe and calls
each star by name. (Psalm
147:4)
Therefore, we should not
treat or approach God as
an equal. Before
approaching Him, we
should prepare ourselves.
If you want God to give
special attention to your
request, make sure that
you have made things
right with God and your
neighbor. (Matthew
5:23,24) We
cannot live like the
devil in willful
rebellion and expect God
to pay attention to our
requests. (1 John
5:14-20; Hebrews
12:28,29) If we
are living in sin, He
will not hear our
prayers. (Psalm
66:18,19)
Therefore, approach Him
with humility and
respect. (2
Chronicles 7:14) He is
the King of kings! (Malachi
1:4; 1 Timothy
6:15; Revelation
19:16)
We cannot expect God to
respond to our request if
wrong doing is involved.
God will have nothing to
do with evil intent. (Isaiah
45:21; Proverbs
6:16-19) Our
requests must be pure and
honorable in His sight.
Although it is very
difficult, each petition
we make should be made
with total surrender. God
has infinite wisdom and
foreknowledge so He knows
the best solution for
each petition. Because
God is a God of love, He
uses infinite wisdom and
omnipotent power to bring
about the best outcome.
We have to trust Him in
this regard. Total
surrender requires
letting God have the
final word.
Finally, when we present
our requests (He invites
us to do so – Matthew
7:7-8), our
motives should be as pure
as possible. James
wrote, “When
you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, that
you may spend what you
get on your
pleasures.” (James 4:3)
God
is not Santa Claus. God’s
ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8,9) God
never sleeps and through
the ministry of the Holy
Spirit, He sees
everything and He is
everywhere. (Psalm
139:7-10) God is
always on His throne and
His highest concern is
teaching us to trust Him,
now and throughout
eternity. Although it is
not our fault, Adam and
Eve’s sin separated
us from God. (Genesis
3:22-24; Romans
5:12) We do
not naturally trust God.
Neither do we want to
have fellowship with Him
(Romans
8:5-9) due to
our sinful nature; so He
pursues us. (Romans 5:6) He wants
to bring us into
communion and fellowship
with Him without
gratifying our sinful
nature! This process is
difficult. God wants to
refine and purify us and
this is contrary to our
sinful nature. So, God
pursues us because He
knows that the closer we
come to Him, our true joy
and happiness will be
greater. He gives each
born again person
“the fruit of the
Spirit” which
include love, joy, peace,
and happiness, etc. (Galatians
5:22,23; John 14:27) This
gift is so powerful that
it will make anger
disappear. When Moses
experienced the goodness
of God on Mt. Sinai, he
wanted to stay with God.
He begged, “If
you are pleased with me,
teach me your ways so I
may know you and continue
to find favor with
you.” (Exodus
33:13)
God
has a specific purpose
for each person. (Jeremiah
1:5) We will
only fulfill this purpose
if we are willing to obey
the Holy Spirit’s
voice whenever He speaks
to us. (Romans
8:14) If we
will walk before God in
righteousness and truth,
God will direct our paths
(Proverbs
3:5,6) and
answer our prayers. “I
the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind, to
reward a man according to
his conduct, according to
what his deeds
deserve.”(Jeremiah
17:10) God will
subject each petition we
make to His infinite
wisdom. It can be
difficult to believe that
in our darkest moments,
God sees our peril and
anxiety. During
Jesus’ anguish
before going to the
cross, He sweated great
drops of blood. He did
not want to die and He
cried out, “Father,
if you are willing, take
this cup from me; yet not
my will, but yours be
done.” (Luke 22:42) The
Father’s will was
that Jesus should die on
the cross. The Father
sent an angel to
strengthen Jesus so that
Jesus could carry out His
purpose. (Luke 22:43) And, God
will do the same for
everyone who surrenders
to His will.
When God called Jonah to
preach in Nineveh, Jonah
ran away because he did
not want to go to
Nineveh. (Jonah
1:1-3) If God
were to reveal His plan
for our lives
prematurely, we would
probably run away too.
God’s plan for
tomorrow and our present
condition are rarely
agreeable, so He fulfills
His plan for us one step
at a time. We cannot see
the future that God has
for us and this is a good
thing!
God will shepherd us if
we are willing for Him to
lead us step-by-step into
the fullness of
God’s purpose for
which He gave us life.
(Psalm 23) We cannot see
the future, our need for
transformation, or our
faults and failings as
God sees them. This is a
good thing. If we could
see our true condition
before God, it would
overwhelm us. When He saw
God’s throne, Isaiah
cried out, “
‘Woe to me!’. .
. ‘I am ruined! For
I am a man of unclean
lips, and I live among a
people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the
King, the Lord
Almighty.’ ” (Isaiah 6:5)
When we make our request
to God, we can be
intense, but we cannot be
demanding. The pot cannot
demand anything of the
potter. (Isaiah
45:9) On the
other hand, we can know
that if we humbly
approach Him, honoring
Him by living up to all
we know to be right and
true (John 4:23), He will
consider our petition
and He will dowhatever
is best! He has promised.
(John 15:16)
Therefore, prepare
yourself and present your
request appropriately.
Leave it with Him. God is
alive. He is not
impressed with chants or
endless repetition. He
hears and He sees. He
even knows our situation
before we ask! (Matthew
6:8) Trust in
God! “For
the eyes of the Lord
range throughout the
Earth to strengthen those
whose hearts are fully
committed to Him.” (2
Chronicles 16:9)
If
God determines that a
request should be
fulfilled as presented,
He will gladly do
it! (Matthew
7:11; Judges
16:28.29) If He
knows that a request is
not beneficial, He will
deny it. For example, no
loving parent allows a
small child to play with
a sharp knife. If God
determines there is a
solution to our request,
but the solution will
take time, He will give
us grace and strength to
deal with our
circumstances. At the
same time, He will set a
process in motion that
will fulfill our request.
From our perspective, it
may seem that God has
said “No” to
our petition because it
is not fulfilled
immediately, but in
reality He has responded
to our request. He just
plans to answer our
request later. Looking
back, I see that God
wanted me to experience
patience, faithful
endurance, and learn
certain lessons before my
requests could be
answered. Knowing what I
now know, I am very happy
that God waited to
fulfill my requests
because, in every case
His fulfillment
is so much better than
what I originally had in
mind!
We
do have a carnal nature. Our
sinful nature is the main
problem when it comes to
being angry with God. God
is always righteous and
fair. He does no evil and
He loves each of us
enough to die for us! God
is not arrogant or
arbitrary. He is
faithful, changeless, and
trustworthy. He is
unbelievably generous and
selfless. When something
painful happens, He
shares in our pain. (Genesis
6:6; Matthew
6:24-34) Our
sinful nature is selfish
to the core. Our nature
wants what it wants and
when it cannot have it,
we become angry and
determined (if possible)
to get what God has
denied us! When God does
not answer their prayers,
some people retaliate by
cursing Him or doing evil
to get even with God.
These acts do not make
the heart joyful. “The
mind of sinful man
is [destined
for] death,
but the mind controlled
by the Spirit is [filled
with] life
and peace.” (Romans 8:6,
insertions mine)
God understands our
sinful nature. He
understands our natural
rebellion, selfishness,
impatience, intolerance,
and desire for instant
gratification. He knows
that each sin
is a seed that will
eventually sprout and
hurt the sinner. Whatever
a man sows, he reaps. (Galatians
6:7)
Therefore, God reasons
that if our anger toward
Him means separation, He
will wait. Maybe a
painful harvest from our
sin will soften our heart
and allow us to receive
His offer of peace and
joy. God wants to win us
over so that we will
trust Him! God wants us
to love Him so He showers
His love on us even before we
love Him. His desire is
to make our love for Him
sprout within us. (1 John
4:19) God
blesses the righteous and
the unrighteous. (Matthew
5:45) God
wants us to forsake our
sins because sin always
produces a harvest of
pain, sorrow, and
suffering. (Deuteronomy
28:15-20) God
delights in showing each
person His personal
interest and love. Yet,
to see the invisible hand
of God in our lives, we
have to search for God
with all our hearts. “You
will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all
your heart.” (Jeremiah
29:13)
Spiritual eyes see
spiritual things and it
takes some time and
effort to understand
God’s ways. (1
Corinthians 2:13,14)
There are two realities.
We can see the temporal
reality with the naked
eye, but the eternal
reality requires the
“eye of faith.”
Currently, God lives in
the second reality and
when a person becomes
born again, God gives him
eyes to detect God’s
presence (2 Kings
6:17),
but “The
fool says in his heart,
‘There is no
God.’ ”(Psalm 14:1) Faith in
God is much more than
knowing about God. The
devil used to live with
God in Heaven and he
knows all about God.
(James 2:19) The
devil became angry with
God when he could not
have his way. His anger
began the curse of
sin.
Faith in God is a matter
of choice. If the Spirit
leads us, our faith knows
that God will do whatever
is best. If we have to
wait, He will give us
grace and strength to
wait. For a person who is
controlled by a sinful
nature, his faith in God
is destroyed when
God appears to
do nothing! This is why
Paul wrote, “And
without faith it is
impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes
to Him must believe that
He exists and that He
rewards those
who earnestly seek
Him.” (Hebrews
11:6, italics
mine) If you are
angry at God, the best
antidote is
faith. If you are
willing to let go of
anger long enough to
experience God’s
goodness, the Holy Spirit
will melt your anger
away. (Romans 2:4)
God always rewards
those who earnestly seek
Him. “The
Lord confides in those
who fear Him; He makes
His covenant known to
them.” (Psalm
25:14)
God
cannot do certain things. In
our next study, we will
discover that Almighty
God cannot do certain
things. For example, God
cannot override a
person’s free will.
If a person chooses to
stay angry at God, God
cannot override his
choice! Unfortunately,
God is unable to do
several things and when
He does not do them,
people get angry at Him.
We will discuss this in
our next study.
