Question: Can you forgive God?I know it's a strange question, but it is one that I am wrestling with tonight.
From all we know of God, we know that He is perfect and therefore without blame. We know that He "works for the good of all who love him" (Romans 8:28). So with that knowledge we can then say that there is no need to forgive God.
But what about from the other side? When we look at the relationships from the God to us side, there is no need to forgive God because God's never done anything that would merit forgiveness. But what about from the side of the relationship of us to God?
If I am harboring anger towards someone who I feel has wronged me, even Jesus would teach that I should forgive in order to move past the anger. All good counselors will tell you that you can never move on with your life if you are still harboring anger and that you must forgive in order to move forward. There is a healing that comes in forgiveness--even when what you forgive is not truly the other person's fault.
So what happens when you are blaming God for broken dreams, trials, hardships, things in your life that you wish wouldn't have happened or think shouldn't have happened? Maybe you don't even realize that you are blaming God. Maybe you can't reconcile a loving God with the abuse you suffered or the death of a loved one. Maybe you are angry with God and you can't move forward in your relationship because you are angry. Can you in that situation--even though you have unjustly blamed God, even though you know that God didn't truly do those things to you, even though you believe that God does have your best interest at heart like the good Father that He is--can you forgive Him? Or maybe you don't believe those things. Can you forgive Him?
I think that you can. What safer place can there be to seek that kind of healing than in God? But I seriously want to know any thoughts that any of you in "blogland" might have on the subject. So comment away.
2 comments:
After we lost Ayannah I temporarily lost my ability to communicate with God. I was so hurt and sad. To add to the mixture of emotions, I felt guilt at my negative feelings towards God! One day I finally was able to say, "Father, I am really hurt in my inability to understand You and what's happened here. I am mad at You and I just can't talk to You right now. Please forgive me, be patient with me, and listen to my heart." I was then, through the Spirit, relieved of the guilt. I truly felt that I was given permission to be mad at God, something that was a foreign idea to me before. Because of that permission granted, I think I was able to, with greater ease and health, begin to process my grief (which I'm still doing). My anger towards God didn't fester; I was able to see Him as on my side again and not the one who inflicted the pain.
I don't know, I have never been mad at God. I must admit, that I am not a believer, but I will certainly never say God doesn't exist. He does. But when I get mad, I either get mad at myself or at everybody and anybody. I have forgiven people so many times, but should I forgive myself?
I think sometimes there are no things to be forgiven. If just everything could be forgiven it would probably all be so easy, but there would probably be no point left in forgiving. Can you forgive human for inventing war? Can you forgive the person that bullied you in first grade? Can you forgive God? You can, but sometimes there is no reason to. If you have a reason to however, then do so.
As forgiving can be a good thing.
Sometimes.
Post a Comment