…because those who do are unable to see a situation from God’s perspective. And perspective is everything, especially when one is on the opposing side of righteousness.
A brief perusal through the Bible reveals God’s amazing love. That same effort also reveals man’s sin-nature, and God’s overwhelmingly patient response. Still, He views situations from His unique perspective that encompass two viewpoints—two sides with no in between: Righteousness or sin. Believers or non-believers. Sheep or goats. Good or evil. Right or wrong. Prideful or humble. Egotist or meek. God KNOWS we are incapable of perfection, so, from the very beginning He arranged to send His Son as the sacrifice to repair the sin chasm between Him and man. Any short perusal through the Bible clearly shows that those who choose His Son are forgiven their sin-nature. All the while He repeatedly applies patience so His great love shines through.
But those who reject His Son see horrible things occurring in the world, and they blame God. How convenient, but utterly misguided. And how arrogant that God is blamed instead of the enemy of man—the great deceiver. For God is love first and justice a distant second. Distant like generations…
But when He does move in justice, God is swift—and that catches the unbeliever unawares.
Now, let’s be clear. God DOES NOT cause bad things to happen. Let’s use 9/11 as an example, when many people blamed God for allowing that event. Horror, tragedy, hate, deceit—anything bad—is Satan’s realm. He relishes chaos, rioting, plundering, thievery, slander—especially when he can turn human hearts against God.
Whereas, God dispenses justice when it is deserved, particularly in circumstances relating to His beloved (Israelites and His adopted gentiles).
For example take Moses, Aaron and Miriam (the siblings in Numbers 12): God chose Moses as His leader over the Israelites. God chose Aaron as Moses’ right-hand-man—not the other way around. When Aaron became prideful and encouraged the Israelites to listen to him instead of Moses, and when Miriam (the prophetess) also spoke against Moses—things got dicey for the two siblings.
Why did they behave like this? Pride and egotism. Second-in-command wasn’t good enough for them. They desired the whole enchilada! Their ordained servanthood to God flew out the door. Their justification? Pride. Aaron wanted more. Miriam wanted more. But first position wasn’t appointed to either of them—and for good reason! (Check out what happened with the Israelites the first time Moses went up Mount Sini for the tablets!)
(As an aside, in most cases, a ‘want’—other than a humble desire to serve God—causes pride and egotism to explode.)
View Aaron and Miriam’s situation from a non-believer’s perspective and one sees God punishing the siblings rather severely. Miriam is smitten with leprosy and they blame God. Well, God did smite her after repeated prideful actions. How many decisions against God should He tolerate before He does something about it? In this case, God tolerated MANY decisions against Him before He acted.
From that perspective, ask yourself…how many times would you tolerate someone harming you before you did something about it? How many times before you demand justice against your perpetrator?
Throughout the Bible God tolerates repeated injustices against Him.
Whereas, believers see Miriam smitten with leprosy AFTER she committed many grievous sins against God. Believers don’t blame God. Believers take note that Miriam committed a wrong. Believers look at what happened to Miriam and learn from it—to better their relationship with God. “Don’t do that”, God says, and believers obey.
Miriam allowed her pride and egotism to commit wrong against God. But God would not allow her to commit that wrong against the Israelites. Miriam was attempting to remove God’s chosen leader, and replace Moses with her other brother—a man she could control.
Believers understand that someone cannot take away, nor change God’s plans, especially if they do it for their own gain—pride and egotism.
Interestingly, God did not prevent Miriam from committing the wrong, He waited to see if she would—giving her every opportunity to stop what was in her heart and mind to do. Always patient, always hoping for a last-minute turnaround, He waited to see if she would act upon her desire. When she did, He disciplined afterwards.
We are strongly warned not to judge another person, because only God knows what’s in a persons heart. Only He knows their inner workings, but when that idea is outwardly manifested, everything changes. He knows, and we know, because of their actions. The wrong is decided upon, committed, imparted, out in the open. A believer takes note that God disciplined Miriam to protect His people from her wrongdoing.
It’s all about perspective and when God metes out justice, there is only righteousness and sin. Believers and non-believers. Sheep and goats. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Humble and prideful. Meek and egotist.
It’s up to us to choose—but choosing wrong, and then blaming God for the sinners bad decision is a total loss. Anything bad is the total opposite of Who He is. God is goodness, love, patience, truth, order out of chaos, kindness, and benevolence. And He lovingly provided Moses to be the leader over His people—not Aaron—and certainly not Miriam.
Many times Moses proved himself a Godly leader. Many times Aaron proved himself an ungodly second-in-command. Yet, God lovingly rescues His own—in this case the Israelites.
God is love! And He has proven it repeatedly!
He’s the One Who conquers giants (David and Goliath). He’s the One Who calls out Kings (when David murdered Uriah so he could have Bathsheba), He’s the One Who shuts the mouths of lions (to save Daniel), He’s the One Who tells the dead to raise (Lazarus), He’s the One Who walks through fire (Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego), He’s the One Who holds the orphan’s hand, He is the One Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ), blameless as the great I AM!
AMEN!