![\"gargoyle2\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2014\/10\/gargoyle2.jpg\")
(H\/T Michal Kasprzak, Flickr Creative Commons<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\nI get angry with God sometimes.<\/p>\n
Actually,\u00a0that\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n
If I\u2019m being really honest, I get angry with God a lot<\/em>.<\/p>\n When I hear about the atrocities committed by ISIS or the needless starving of millions or priests abusing children or babies being born only to die from some\u00a0genetic defect I get angry at God.<\/p>\n I get angry because I believe in a God who is worthy of being called God.<\/p>\n I believe in a God who can act in history<\/em> because God has acted in history<\/em>. So, I get angry when God chooses not to act to lessen the pain and suffering that saturates the earth.<\/p>\n Now, when I say I get angry with God, it\u2019s not the sort of anger I feel when I get stuck in line at the grocery store because the person in front of me feels compelled to count out exact change while arguing with the cashier over half a dozen expired coupons.<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking about a holier form of anger.<\/p>\n I saw something once that said \u201canger is just love disappointed.\u201d Though there is more than just disappointment involved for me, I think that sentiment\u00a0does capture the heart of the sort of anger with God that I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0I\u2019m profoundly disappointed, heartbroken that the God I love \u2013 the God who says He loves me and everyone around me \u2013 doesn\u2019t do more to stem the tide of evil in the world.<\/p>\n So, I get angry.<\/p>\n I get angry because I love.<\/p>\n I\u2019m guessing you get angry with God sometimes\u00a0too.<\/p>\n I think all of us get angry with God at one time or another. Unfortunately, few of us are willing or able to admit it because we\u2019ve been conditioned by a million praise songs and a thousand turn or burn sermons to think that the only emotions we\u2019re allowed to have towards God are adulation and gratitude.<\/p>\n Ironically, we love talking about how much we want an authentic relationship with God, but when it comes to the messiness that accompanies every real relationship we tend to gloss over all that\u00a0hard stuff with\u00a0lots of mostly empty platitudes about \u201cjust trusting in God\u201d and \u201cletting go and letting God be God.\u201d<\/p>\n Never mind that letting God be God could be an invitation to have our families and everything we own totally wiped out (see: Job), the truth is there is no virtue or holiness to be found in ignoring the problem of evil by hiding behind one-liners about \u201cjust having faith\u201d or \u201cloving God anyway\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s all part of God\u2019s plan\u201d or the even more perverse notion that \u201csuffering gives God glory.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how to say it more clearly than this: Telling someone who suffers that God wanted to them to suffer is not just insensitive or theologically dense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s blasphemy.<\/p>\n Yes, we can and should proclaim\u00a0the hope of the Second Coming, but to completely put off our expectation of God\u2019s acting in response to evil until the eschaton is to silence the prayer of our Lord that Thy will be done (which if Eden and Revelation tell us anything it\u2019s a will that desires no evil or suffering) on earth as it is in heaven.<\/p>\n In other words, we should expect a loving God to act in response to evil, not only because God has done so in the past, but because God has promised to continue to do so in the present.<\/p>\n Which is why\u00a0when God doesn\u2019t act, our broken hearts\u00a0should make us angry.<\/p>\n But is it ok to be angry with God?<\/em><\/p>\n Well, if the Bible is going to\u00a0be our guide, then I think the answer is unequivocally \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n The story of God\u2019s people does nothing to hide the fact that God\u2019s people get angry with God. From Cain to Moses to Jonah to the Psalmist to Ananias and countless others in between, the Bible is riddled with the accounts of people\u00a0who get angry with God and a God who responds with a listening ear.<\/p>\n Take the prayer of Jeremiah for example.<\/p>\n You deceived\u00a0me,\u00a0Lord<\/span>, and I was deceived;<\/span> Not exactly the sort of prayer you typically\u00a0hear at church. But it\u2019s an important moment of raw honesty that demonstrates not only the frustrations even the holiest among us have, but also the willingness of God to listen to our cries.<\/p>\n Of course, if you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019re so conditioned to always feel joy and thanksgiving\u00a0toward God that you get a little panicky when you hear someone like Jeremiah lash out at\u00a0God. You worry\u00a0that lighting could strike at any moment. But God has never zapped anybody into oblivion because they got mad at Him<\/em>. If the Bible is to be trusted, then God\u2019s response to our anger isn\u2019t wrath. It\u2019s compassion<\/em>.<\/p>\n But what about Paul\u2019s words in Romans 9?<\/p>\n \u201cBut who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Paul may be borrowing from the book of Job when God famously asks Job who he is to question God.<\/p>\n Well, we are the people of God, that\u2019s who.<\/p>\n We are God\u2019s creation with whom\u00a0God has entered into covenant, the creation God has made promises of hope\u00a0to\u00a0and claims of being loving. If Paul really believed that we shouldn\u2019t\u00a0get angry with God, he would have had to abandon his own Jewish scripture, something the self-professed devote Jew would never do.<\/p>\n Think about it this way: if we adopt a dog as our family pet, we have certain obligations to that dog to care for it. That doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re obligated to make sure it never feels pain, never gets sick, and never feels lonely. But if we leave our dog locked up\u00a0in a cage\u00a0to starve to death or otherwise abuse it, we can expect to find ourselves in jail.<\/p>\n If we are obligated to care for pets we merely adopted, but had no hand in creating, how much more commitment does God have to us who He created out dust, breathing into the mud the breath of life while\u00a0bestowing us with His\u00a0divine image?<\/p>\n Which is why I wonder if we can even be Christians and not<\/em> get\u00a0angry with God.<\/p>\n I realize that probably sounds pretty strange, but bear with me for a moment.<\/p>\n You see, it\u2019s the problem of evil that spurs the moments in which I get angry with God. But within the problem of evil there is another subsequent problem for those of us that choose to believe in God despite the tension.<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking about the problem of Jesus.<\/p>\n You see, Jesus seriously complicates the problem of evil for Christians.<\/p>\n Jesus stands as incarnated proof that God cares about creation, that God doesn\u2019t want to see His people suffer, and is doing something about all this evil around us. Moreover, in Jesus we hear the call of God to go and do likewise, to go and do our part to alleviate the suffering of the world by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving water to the thirsty, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, and loving our enemies.<\/p>\n And yet there is still a profound amount of suffering in the world.<\/p>\n Which leaves us with a conundrum.<\/p>\n If both loving others and belief in a miracle working, death conquering God are core components of our faith, are we not in some sense compelled to be angry at God for continuing to allow so much wasteful suffering and pain?<\/p>\n To put it another way, if we\u00a0believe in a God worthy of such a title, yet look around at a world filled with needless suffering and feel not even the slight bit of anger at God because\u00a0He chooses not to act, then are we\u00a0really worthy of bearing the title of Christian, the name of followers of one who was so grieved by the suffering of others that he sought to take it all upon himself so that it might end forever?<\/p>\n That is to say, if we are not grieved and angered over the plight of our neighbors, do we really love one another?<\/p>\n Again, I know the idea that Christians should ever be angry with the God who saves them sounds a bit strange. But a fundamental part of our faith is our love for the One\u00a0for whom nothing is beyond\u00a0His ability to heal and redeem. So, when we look around and see so many\u00a0in need of healing and so much in need of redemption, how can our love not help but be disappointed?<\/p>\n How can we not get\u00a0angry with God?<\/p>\n Now let me be clear, this is not about choosing being either love or anger. Like in any relationship, there is room for both. Even though we may get angry with God, there is also space for a faith that hopes in spite of what we see that one day God will indeed wipe away every tear from every eye.<\/p>\n But if the life of Jesus is the good news that God can and is doing something about the problem of evil, I think it\u2019s only natural that we would get angry when we look around and don\u2019t see God doing more to alleviate the pain of so many.<\/p>\n In fact, I would go so far as to say that not honestly and openly confronting the pain and frustration people feel because the\u00a0God they worship could act but doesn\u2019t, is\u00a0the very opposite of\u00a0the sort of compassion and love for others that Jesus embodied.<\/p>\n Which is why I so often find myself protesting\u00a0to God.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean I go to church and hold up picket signs.<\/p>\n I mean cry out to God to do more.<\/p>\n I cry out to God to be the loving and healing God He has revealed Himself to me.<\/p>\n I protest.<\/p>\n My protest stems from a place of anger, a place of love disappointed. It\u2019s a\u00a0call for God to act, to be faithful to His creation because I believe God is capable of doing so. My protest is not about bearing a grudge or living a bitter life. It\u2019s about following in the footsteps of our biblical fore-bearers and holding God to His\u00a0promises.<\/p>\n I believe the Bible reveals a God who wants us to feel free to be as honest about how we feel as we would in any other relationship. And if authentic relationship with God is really something we seek, then anger will sometimes be a part of it.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n In fact, it may be a really, really good thing.<\/p>\n You see,\u00a0the Bible also reveals a God who is moved to act by the cries of His people.<\/p>\n A God who is moved by protest.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (H\/T Michal Kasprzak, Flickr Creative Commons) I get angry with God sometimes. Actually,\u00a0that\u2019s not true. If I\u2019m being really honest, I get angry with God a lot. When I hear about the atrocities committed by ISIS or the needless starving of millions or priests abusing children or babies being born only to die from some\u00a0genetic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":13067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>you overpowered\u00a0me and prevailed.<\/span><\/span>
\nI am ridiculed\u00a0all day long;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>everyone mocks\u00a0me.<\/span><\/span>
\nWhenever I speak, I cry out<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>proclaiming violence and destruction.<\/span><\/span>
\nSo the word of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0has brought me<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>insult and reproach\u00a0all day long.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n