Do you ever feel like God is angry at you? Have you committed a sin that makes you think God is out to get you? Do you think that you are in God’s doghouse? Are you waiting for God’s hammer to drop? Has something bad happened to you and you believe it is because God is out to get you? When bad things happen to you, do you believe that it is because you deserve it? Or, when bad things happen to others, do you believe it is because they deserve it? Do you believe in karma? What about God’s retribution?
If you believe or think any of these things, you are not alone. Many people believe this. I wish I received some kind of reward every time I hear someone suggest these things to be true in his or her own life.
This person walks around life just waiting for God to finally punish, give payback, or otherwise respond out of anger.
You cannot miss this. It is essential for you to understand this issue, better understand God, and recognize how God responds to our sin.
Does Your Sin Directly Cause Bad Things in Your Life?
This is a legitimate question. The answer is yes and no.
Yes when…
The Bible does say in reference to the Israelites, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23). It also says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7).
Sin does have a way of coming back on you. Therefore, there are times that you can see how your sin directly causes something bad in your life. This is called natural consequences or consequences, and sometimes may also be known as God’s discipline.
Clear examples would include: getting arrested for driving drunk, getting caught stealing, digestive disorders for the highly anxious, etc.
No when…
By far, the vast majority of “bad” things that happen to you have no connection to the sin in your life. No direct bearing exists between what you have done and your life. If you walk around believing that everything bad that happens in life is because you deserve it, then please read on.
Let me explain suffering generally then specifically.
Generally, we all go through suffering.
First, we live in a fallen world where everything in it, including people, need redemption (Rom 8:18-25). Suffering exists. Until the future day of Christ, this is our reality. We endure suffering as part of participants in a fallen world.
Second, whenever and wherever suffering exists, we need to use that suffering as an opportunity to pray, seek accountability, consider carefully our hearts, determine if in fact we have unconfessed or unrepented sin, and pursue living for God’s glory (James 5:13-18).
Specifically, consider these key passages.
John 9:1-12
Jesus and His disciples were walking together. As they journeyed, they passed a man who all knew had been blind since birth. John records the story:
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Please notice several key factors in this story. For starters, the disciples falsely assumed that the man or his parents specifically sinned which caused the blindness. This theology was typical to their day. Theologically, it is known as the Doctrine of Divine Retribution, which generally states, if you do what is right, then God will bless you with good life and living, but if you sin, then God will punish you. Therefore, since this guy was blind, someone’s sin must be to blame.
However, Jesus corrects this false theology. He replied that the young man’s blindness was part of God’s greater plan and was not associated with his sin or his parents’ sin. Instead, his life-long blindness fit in God’s greater plan for him and those around him. As the story continues (John 9:4-41), Jesus heals him of his blindness, which is then used to demonstrate the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. His life-long blindness in God’s plan brought about one of the most powerful stories about blindness and sight as it pertains to believing in Jesus Christ. Any connection we make between this man’s or his parents’ sin with his blindness flows out of poor theology, because there is none.
Luke 13:1-5
In Luke 13 Jesus uses two current events, both full of human suffering, to teach the disciples an important lesson about life. In these stories, Jesus identifies both times that the suffering which took place was not caused by the sufferers’ own personal sins. The suffering was not discipline for a particular personal sin and was not the result of the Doctrine of Divine Retribution.
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Jesus takes the two separate events (Galileans who Pilate killed and those on whom the tower fell) to teach an important lesson. In this lesson, he separated suffering from particular sins that were committed in life. As He asks His question to the disciples, He expects a positive response in both instances. As is typical with their specifically poor theology and with people in general, Jesus understood that they would make false connections, which did not actually exist, between the suffering people’s sin and their suffering. In both instances, Jesus specifically said, “No.” There is no connection between these horrific events and their sin.
Instead, Jesus used these instances of suffering to teach a valuable lesson about life and death. They died and went into eternity. The end of life is death. Any person who dies (in this case ‘perish’) without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ (repentance) faces the same fate. The individual without a reconciled relationship with God at death (as those who were in both of these stories) will likewise perish.
The Book of Job
Job’s life further illustrates the point that there is no connection between most suffering and one’s personal sin or “deserving” it. The book begins with a clear statement as to Job’s life and godliness.
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil… (Job 1:1-5).
As the story continues, we learn of incredible suffering which happened to Job (Job 1:6-2:10). Through the biblical writer, we get God’s view of Job even in the midst of suffering, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).
Making a very long story (42 chapters) short, Job’s friends arrive to comfort and help Job. What ensues is a verbal battle between Job and his friends. Job, who believed in the false doctrine (the Doctrine of Divine Retribution), felt God had unjustly made him suffer. He kept declaring his own personal innocence. His friends, who also believed in the false doctrine (the Doctrine of Divine Retribution), accused him of sin and called for his repentance of his sin. Why did they call for him to repent? Because they falsely believed that suffering is always associated with personal sin and deserving punishment.
The story ends with Job confessing his misunderstanding of the way God uses suffering in a person’s life (Job 42:1-5). Furthermore, at the end of the story, God chastises the friends because they believed inaccurately as well related to suffering being caused by a person’s sin (Job 42:7-8).
Just Because You Sin Does Not Mean God Waits Anxiously for the Opportunity to Punish You
For today, I end with this simple truth. God does not wait anxiously for an opportunity to punish you or cause you to go through suffering as a response to your personal sin.
In the next blog tomorrow, I will help you consider how to go through suffering in light of this truth.
Until then, may God rest your heart in the midst of your life and/or in the midst of suffering. Jesus in the New Testament and God the Father in the Old Testament both correct the poor theology known as the Doctrine of Divine Retribution. May we be clear in our own hearts and thinking…just because you are in the midst of suffering does not mean that you deserve it more than anyone else. Suffering in each one of our lives has far greater purposes than simply punishing us. God is not in heaven with a divine scow just waiting to zap you for being a sinner. Instead, He sent His Son to rescue you, take on Himself God’s wrath instead of you, and through Jesus’ sacrifice provide reconciliation for you with God. Friends, that is love, not Divine Retribution.
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