What to Do If You Feel Like Blaming God for Something

I think it would be right to say that it is common for Christians to feel like blaming God for things. Sometimes sufferings arise in our lives that we just don’t understand, and it is easy to feel unhappy with God as a result.

A little technique to use

I think if we feel like blaming God for something, it is helpful to do the following.

Imagine that Jesus, the God-Man, is sitting with you. And imagine that He is there to defend how He has treated you. In other words, imagine that He is speaking to you, explaining exactly why you have suffered the things that have made you upset with Him.

In His infinite wisdom, He would know exactly how to convince you that He hasn’t treated you badly.

You know that He would succeed in convincing you of this, don’t you? You don’t really think, do you, that if Jesus were trying to defend how He has treated you, He would fail to persuade you?

Deep down every Christian surely knows that this is true. If the Lord Jesus were to give a defence of how He has treated any of us, a defence tailor-made to what each of us can understand, what He said would be totally compelling. We would be sitting open-mouthed, amazed at how perfectly He had defended everything He had done to us and let us go through. We would see crystally clearly that He had not treated us badly and that what we had suffered made sense.

Of course, when we do feel like blaming God, Jesus isn’t actually sitting down with us, talking to us face to face. But what we need to do is accept by faith that His defence of how He has treated us would be totally convincing. Deep inside we know it’s true. So, walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7), we need to decide that we are going to trust His wisdom even if we can’t physically see and hear Him defend how He has treated us.

Blaming God is a sin

Although it is common for Christians to feel like blaming God, we need to be clear that blaming Him for anything is a sin. He is morally perfect and totally blameless in every way.

It is true that, when we are suffering, God wants us to tell Him all about how we feel. This means that if we feel blame towards Him, we should be honest and say this. We must always be one hundred per cent honest with Him about everything.

Of course, He won’t be shocked or even surprised by what we say. He already knows how we feel in every detail. But it is good for us to express our feelings to Him in this way.

Nevertheless, a Christian should never remain for an extended period of time with feelings of blame towards God. We know that blaming Him doesn’t make sense. Deep down we know that how He has treated us in no way conflicts with His goodness.

The example of David

Instead of blaming God for things in our lives, we do very well to follow the lead of David as seen in the Psalms.

When David was suffering, he poured out his heart to God. He pleaded with Him. But he stopped short of blaming Him. He never went so far as to actually say that God was to blame for anything.

For example, in Psalm 13:1-2 David says:

‘How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?’ (ESV)

It is true that at first sight, when David uses the words ‘Will you forget me forever?’ he seems to be blaming God for forgetting him. But it would be a mistake to take this too literally. This question needs to be interpreted in the light of verses 5-6, which end the Psalm:

‘But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.’ (ESV)

We could perhaps say that in this Psalm David gets close to blaming God. We could maybe even say, because he was sinful like we are, that he experienced some feelings of blame towards God. But he stops short of actually blaming Him. He is expressing His frustration in a very vivid way. But he doesn’t go so far as to blame the Lord.

Summing up

The next time you feel like blaming God for something you have suffered or are still suffering, I would encourage you to do what I have suggested.

Imagine that Jesus is sitting down with you for the express purpose of defending how He has treated you, that He isn’t in a hurry, and that His defence is going to be tailor-made for what you are able to understand.

You know He would succeed, don’t you? You know you would become completely convinced that He hasn’t treated you badly.

So make a decision to accept this by faith. Apologise to God for blaming Him for anything, renounce the feelings of blame, and praise Him that He is with you to help you. And remember too that on the cross Jesus suffered more than you can imagine and that it was for you.

 

See also:

Some Things for Christians to Do When They Are Hanging On by Their Fingernails

Trusting God When We Are Not Sure What to Do 

How and Why Should Christians Rejoice? 

Taking Heart from the Apostle Paul’s Experiences of Setbacks and Failed Plans

Is It Right for Christians to Name and Claim Things in Faith?

Sometimes you will hear Christians speak approvingly of using a principle of ‘Name it and claim it’ when praying for things. They say that it is good Christian practice often to name something before God in prayer and claim the answer in faith.

It is also quite common to hear Christians speak disapprovingly of naming and claiming things in faith. They say that Christian prayer should not be like this and that it encourages believers to selfishly treat God like some sort of vending machine.

So who has got this right? Should we name and claim things in faith or shouldn’t we?

I would suggest that the principle of naming things before God and claiming them in faith is a good and biblical one, although it is important not to misunderstand this kind of prayer and to see its limitations.

Actually, although the principle of naming and claiming is a good one, because the precise label ‘Name it and claim it’ tends to be connected quite closely to the mistaken teaching that is known as the ‘Prosperity Gospel’, I think we do better to avoid using this label itself. But the basic principle is a good one generally as far as prayer is concerned.

Mark 11:24

An important verse on this topic is Mark 11:24, where Jesus teaches:

‘Whatever things you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and they will be yours.’

Here Jesus commands His followers to claim things in faith when praying. He is encouraging us to go boldly to God and say, ‘Lord, I ask You to do x, y and z, and I believe that You are going to do them.’

Jesus actually uses a past tense – ‘you have received’ – instead of a future – ‘you will receive’ – but the idea is that the person praying is so confident of receiving the answer in the future that it is as if they have already received it.

Although, as I have said, we do better to avoid the label ‘Name it and claim it’, Jesus is clearly encouraging us in this verse to treat prayer in this sort of way.

This only applies to things that are the will of God

It is interesting to note that although Mark 11:24 mentions the condition of believing/faith for a prayer to be answered, nothing is said about the condition of asking for something that is the will of God.

Importantly, however, language generally, as well as biblical language, often expects the reader to understand unexpressed conditions that are treated as obvious. And it should be obvious that Jesus means us to understand that this promise of God answering our prayers asked in faith only applies to prayers that are for things that are the will of God. If something isn’t the will of God, Jesus’ words certainly don’t apply.

So, for example, suppose that a certain Christian is somehow deceived into believing sincerely that God wants to give him a red Ferrari, although this is not the will of God at all. So he prays for this, genuinely expecting to receive it.

Will God give it to him? Absolutely not! Jesus’ words in this verse are in no way saying that God is somehow obligated to answer a prayer that is against His will, just because a Christian happens to wrongly think that it is His will.

Mistakes of those who approve of naming and claiming

There is no doubt that some Christians who say they approve of naming and claiming things in faith do try to abuse this principle for selfish gain. They have failed to understand that the approach to prayer outlined in passages like Mark 11:24 is essentially not about getting God to give us things we like (although that will happen sometimes) but about being involved in God’s work of building His church.

It isn’t that Christians are supposed to call the shots and get God to fit in with our prayers. Rather, we are supposed to claim things in faith that glorify God and advance His work in the world. It should be all about Him, not us.

Mistakes of those who disapprove of naming and claiming

On the other side, some Christians who say they disapprove of naming and claiming things in faith seem to throw the baby out with the bath water.

By all means, let us avoid the approach of those who want to abuse prayer for selfish gain. But let us be crystal clear too that the Bible contains passages like Mark 11:24 that teach us to name and claim things in faith, even if we avoid that exact label.

Here is the verse again:

‘Whatever things you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and they will be yours.’

Note how this verse contains not just a suggestion for how we should pray but a command. And there is not the slightest doubt that this command applies just as much to Christians living today as it did in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It’s not optional for us to do this. It is the way that the Lord Himself has instructed us to pray.

 

See also:

Every Christian Should Be a Prayer Information Hub

Getting the Balance between Expecting Too Little and Too Much from Prayer

Christians Need to Put Everything to the Test

Fighting Tooth and Nail to Interpret the Bible Honestly