When you read the book of Job, you cannot help but be in awe of this humble man’s faith in God. When multiple calamities befell him, Job’s faith stayed strong. Job lived at about the same time as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, somewhere in that time frame. He was a devout worshipper of God and also very wealthy, with a large family and much property, including a great deal of livestock, which means he was quite well-to-do by the standards of the ancient world. Notice what this passage says of Job after suffering the loss of his children and property:
Job 1:20-22: Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Job was unaware at the time that a cosmic wager was being made by Satan that if God did not continue to protect Job then when bad things befell him, he would curse God. In Chapter 1 God removed His hedge of protection around Job but told Satan not to lay a hand on his person. In Chapter 2, after further accusations by the devil, God allowed Job to be in Satan’s hands but told him to spare the man’s life, so Satan struck Job with a hideous case of boils from head to toe. Job’s friends acted more like accusers than consolers. As time went on, Job became increasingly distraught, but in all the things that the devil hit him with he never stopped having faith in the Lord.
Notice in the Scripture cited above, the phrase “charge God with wrong.” That means Job did not accuse God of wrongdoing or evil. He did not accuse the Lord of doing all this to him. To those of us reading this and already knowing the backstory, this is clear. But how many other times have we charged God with wrong? Most of us, if not all, have done so at some point, usually in a difficult time in our lives. For example, I was angry with God and wondered why He let me have so many unusual and dangerous emotional issues when He could have kept me from all that. I wondered how it could have been too much to ask just to have a wife, a family, and a decent job, which is all I wanted out of life as a young man. After salvation, as the Lord began the work of healing my mind I began to see that, although the evil actions of others certainly did contribute to the things I struggled with, I was still the one who ultimately chose a self-destructive course in life. God was not to blame in any of this. Yet the blaming of God—the charging of God with wrong—goes beyond personal calamity alone. We ascribe all sorts of things to the Lord that He disapproves of and otherwise has nothing to do with. There are Christians who even use the Bible to ascribe things to God that He does not, in reality, do to anyone. One of the most puzzling Scriptures in the Word of God is this one:
Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I the LORD, do all these things.”
In the King James Version, the word “calamity” is rendered as “evil,” adding to the mysteriousness of this Scripture. First, let us look at the context in which this passage is located. This Scripture is part of a long discourse from God which begins in the previous chapter and discusses God’s undying love for Israel and the coming restoration of Judah after a period of chastening. In fact, the name of the ruler under which this restoration would come, Cyrus, is mentioned in Isaiah 44 and 45. Second, the word “calamity” (“evil” in the KJV) comes from the Hebrew word ra‘ (raah), which, according to Strong’s Concordance, can mean evil not only in the usual sense but also God’s judgment against the wicked, which is disagreeable to those afflicted by it but is not ethically evil. So, in the context of the Isaiah passage above, the “calamity” (or “evil”) spoken of by the Lord is the punishment or chastisement He brings to those who are inherently wicked or to those whom He loves and is punishing and correcting. God’s judgments are never evil. Notice these passages also:
James 1:13: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
1 John 1:5: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
In spite of what these and other passages throughout the Bible say of God’s goodness, not only do the lost say things about God that should not be said, many Christians also charge God with wrong, and a lot of times they do not even seem to realize they are aware of it. Often their statements come from a flawed understanding of God. Believers will say things such as: “God took my child in that house fire”; “I guess God made him to be an alcoholic”; or “God let my car’s transmission tear up because I haven’t been tithing enough”. We must remember that we live in a fallen world where the good and the evil alike can suffer calamities, illnesses, and so on (Matthew 5:45). God did not make anyone to be an alcoholic, or gay, or the wrong gender, or anything else. There are a variety of other reasons why these things happen. Cars break down no matter what the character of their owners is like. Fires happen. A lot of other things take place in life that have nothing to do with a person’s spiritual condition or with the kingdom of darkness. To even suggest that God does bad things to people is sinful. Yes, He can use bad things as chastisement, as we have already seen, but when these things happen they are for our good, and God never, ever punishes someone else for our sins. Others suffer because of our sins! We can see the proof here in these verses below:
Hebrews 12:5-11: And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Jeremiah 31:29-30: “In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”
Another area where people get off-base and charge God with wrong is when bad leaders arise to preside or rule over nations. It is true that God gives power to the various offices ordained in any given nation, empire, et cetera, even down to corporations, groups, all the way down to individual households, as we see here:
John 19:10-11: Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Romans 13:1: Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
1 Corinthians 11:3: But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman isman, and the head of Christ is God.
While God gives power to positions of authority, it is still the responsibility of those in such positions to do well. You may recall the Old Testament account of when Israel wanted a king just like the other nations had (1 Samuel 8:1-22). Samuel warned the people of the hazards of being ruled by a man instead of by God. As far back as Deuteronomy, God knowing that in the future Israel would want a king, He set forth some standards that the kings of Israel were to live by (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Whether it is the leader of a nation, the head of a household, or anyone in any other conceivable position of authority, however great or however limited, it is the responsibility of each person to do what is morally right in the eyes of God. The Lord does not set bad rulers in charge. We do, either through unwise decisions as voters, through the theft of elections, through the treachery of individuals seeking power, and so on. God may have permitted such evil men as Nero and Hitler to be heads of empires and nations, but He did not put them in charge Himself. They either were elected to office or cheated their way in through deception or other means. God gives us the freedom to make choices, and quite often we have to live by them, even if these choices are bad.
There are various things in life also where there is no obvious answer as to why something occurred. What we must always remember as Christians is that God is good. He is not ever responsible for wickedness. Fallen man and the kingdom of darkness are. We have a great deal more responsibility for our actions than we are often aware of. If you have charged God with wrong and have not already repented, please do so as soon as possible. And always keep this in mind as a believer:
John 10:10: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
