Questions

I have heard debates between believers and non-believers and have heard some non-believers talk that seem to know a lot about the Bible.  Some quote scriptures but act very hostile to any notion of there being a God.  When I hear them I wonder what happened to them that caused so much hostility and anger.  I realize that there are many answers to this problem; one of them being that they weren’t sincerely or truly born-again but were just going through the motions while some were turned off by a professor in college or a teacher in high school.  Some depart from the faith when some kind of tragedy takes place in their lives and they blame God.  Instead of handling the situation like Job did in his trial they get angry at God and become bitter and choose not to follow God.  

There was a King named Asa who started out honoring God and God helped Him defeat his enemies, the Ethiopians and the Lubims, but in the end King Asa became angry and ignored God and relied on the King of Syria.  When Hanani, the seer, spoke to him about what he had done, King Asa became angry with him and threw him in prison.

Read what it says about King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16:12-14, “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in his own tomb, which he had made for himself in the City of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments. They made a very great burning for him.”

I think many believers get angry with God and handle it the wrong way and I think there are many questions that they struggle with.  I don’t think anyone understands everything and that is where faith and perseverance come in.  Read what it says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”  We don’t have all the answers now but someday we will understand because we will have God’s perspective.  

When I hear people refuting the faith they once followed and being very hostile towards it, it makes me angry in some ways and also sad to think they have walked away from the faith that they once believed in.  Another thing that bothers me is to think that maybe I have helped to turn some people off because of my actions or my words.  We need to be aware that people are always watching and listening, and our words and actions will either turn someone off from our message or encourage them to want to listen to it.  It is one thing if people get offended by the message we speak but it is another thing if we offend them because of our lack of integrity, our words and our actions.  Sometimes in our enthusiasm, wanting to win people to the Lord, we do more to offend them then we do to help them and this should not happen.  We should never water down the truth but we should not be obnoxious and offensive either; when we do that, we lack love.

If you have been convicted by this message don’t take it lightly, repent and ask the Lord to forgive you and help you to be a better witness and a better example.  Something to think about!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!