Recently, I counseled a mom who had been raped. She knew killing her child in an abortion would be wrong, but was undecided about what she should do since she felt all alone and was struggling with flashbacks and depression from the rape. She was also grappling with anger and no understanding how a good God could allow what she had endured. She had many questions about God when I shared the Gospel with her. The four listed below were her looming questions. I have met many people on the sidewalk of the abortion centers with these same questions when they face what they see as unjust and overwhelming suffering.
Is it bad to question God?
Does God make mistakes?
Wby does God require us to have faith?
Is it wrong to be angry with God?
I told her I would do my best to address each concern. This is how I answered her.
Is it bad to question God?
The psalms are filled with the cries of the faithful who questioned God when they faced struggles. Some examples are listed below:
• Psalm 10: “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”
• Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
• Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”
• Psalm 39: “What is the measure of my days?”
• Psalm 42: “Why are you downcast, O my soul?”
• Psalm 49: “Why should I fear in times of trouble?”
• Psalm 79: “How long, O Lord?”
• Psalm 89: “Where is your steadfast love?”
• Psalm 137: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song?”
Jesus Himself on the cross cries out, “MY God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”
We can question God in our anguish. He hears our cries. He is the One that gave us the mind and intellect that questions our suffering and His goodness. David, who wrote most of the Psalms was described as a man after God’s heart. If he could question God and remain faithful and loved by the Lord, so can we. Yes, we can question God.
Does God make mistakes?
Consider the impossible magnificence and complexity of God’s creation. If even one tiny aspect of the structure of the mammalian eye was not present, the eye would not see. Ponder the astronomical impossibility of all the factors necessary for life that must have occurred on Earth. According to current scientific understanding, the mathematical possibility of all the factors necessary for life on Earth is considered extremely low, with estimates ranging from “one in a trillion trillion” to “one in a billion trillion,” largely due to the complex combination of conditions required. How about the genetic coding that guides every aspect of our unique bodies? A single strand of DNA can store up to 215 million gigabytes of data, making it one of the highest density storage mediums available. And there are 92 strands of DNA in a single human cell.
God designed it all. Perfectly. God does not make mistakes. Can sin disrupt what He intended? Yes.
Why does God require us to have faith?
This is an amazing question. Countless times I have heard the claim: If we could just see God, how easy it would be to follow Him. Why doesn’t He just appear when we question if He is real.
Well…He has. He did.
God was visible, here on Earth. The immortal, infinite, eternal, omnipresent God was made mortal and finite in the human form of Jesus. Those living at the time saw Him. They SAW the living God grow up, walk, eat with them, teach them with words far beyond human wisdom. Yet most rejected Him. They crucified Him. The denounced Him. They SAW God, right there in their presence, but they did not know Him. Even in the presence of God Himself, a step of FAITH had to be taken to trust He was who He said He was and to follow Him.
WHY? How could those who lived during the time of Jesus be with Him and still not recognize Him?
We would rather trust in ourselves and believe we know better than trust in the Holy God who is standing in our presence. The book of Job is an illuminating book that addresses this. Job had a great life, until Satan wiped out his fortune, family, and health. Satan does so after taunting God that Job only loved God because of his riches, happy family, and overall great life. Satan insists Job would curse God if that was taken away. In other words, Satan claims Job doesn’t love the God he cannot see…but only the goodies he CAN see.
God allows Satan to strip all that away from Job but does not allow Satan to kill Job. Understandably, Job asks God why. He asks God to show up, and let Job question HIm face to face to make the case for why this treatment was unfair. Job does not lose his faith or curse God, but he is certainly shaken. God finally answers Job with His own questions, pointing to the intricate and complex universe and creation that God has engineered. He asks Job if he could understand let alone produce even one of the examples of God’s miraculous works. Job’s response is that He had heard of God…but now He sees Him. He begins to grasp the impossible scope of all God does and IS, and realizes he is in no position to question God. He repents of His folly in questioning God’s sovereignty. His faith is restored because His focus shifts from himself to the wonder of God and the miracles obvious in His creation. We in our limited capacity cannot begin to understand God. But we can see the wonder of His world and take a step of faith that He is who He claims to be and praise Him in worship and wonder.
And finally, is it ok to be angry with God?
When we feel so secure in our faith that we understand that God can take our anger in the midst of our struggles…and still love us…we are free to express the depth of our angst when we face unbearable sorrow. In a very strange but real way, trusting God with our anger is an act of faith.
Scriptural support for this is evident in Psalm 44.
“We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old: You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them. You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever. Selah But You have cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people for next to nothing, And are not enriched by selling them. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us. You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples. My dishonor is continually before me, And the shame of my face has covered me, Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from Your way; But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.”
Psalms 44:1-26
The psalmist begins by praising God but then quickly switches to anger at God. He does not understand why God has allowed all these terrible things to happen to His people. But then, in the last verse, he recognized that God is the one that will help and redeem them, with His mercy.
So yes, you can be angry at God…but then let Him be the one to comfort, help, and redeem.
Summary
These are very deep questions, and I hope my answers will help victims of abuse to choose life but also to desire to seek those answers themselves in scripture. Ultimately, I pray it will help them to choose God, despite the horror of what they may have faced in life.
The rape victim who spoke with me needed to know it was okay to question God, to be angry, and to wonder about how to be faithful in anguish. I assured her that her emotions did not endanger her relationship with God as long as she ended up trusting in His mercy and grace.
She not only chose life but submitted her life to Jesus. The questions and struggles did not instantly disappear, but she was comforted knowing God would allow her to work through them without removing His love. God invites us to bring our questions, our anger, our hurt, and our struggles to Him. He desires that we would reason together and find Him, healing, and hope.
““Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”
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