Job 40:8 
“Would you discredit my justice? 
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (NIV)

“Do you presume to tell me what I am doing wrong? 
Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?”
(The Message) 

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One of the great fears of my life as a youngster was getting sucked into quicksand. Movies and television shows made it look like quicksand could be found just about anywhere, usually when you weren’t looking for it. By the time you discovered it, you were already in its death grip.

What if you found yourself in quicksand and there were no vines or tree branches nearby to save yourself? This kind of question kept me on my toes any time I was around mud. 

This is one of those anxieties that needs to be added to the category “irrational fear”. I have a whole lot of other categories of irrational thoughts and behaviors. Let’s not go there right now. 

One of the true, irrational thought processes of men and women across the ages is that God is to blame for our problems. Instead of focusing on our Father in heaven who loves us with a perfect love, we tend to act like he is more like the Greek and Roman gods on Mount Olympus. 

There, good gods stand alongside not-so-good gods. There are gods who want to do good things for us, and there are gods who want to do bad things to us. Often they deploy their powers against us in competition with one another. Ask Odysseus how this works. 

Thankfully, this is not the way it works in the Real World. God’s defining characteristic is his perfect love. You know the Bible verse that says “God is love.” This is His nature. This is who he is. This is how he operates in this world. 

Ponder these verses:

1 John 4:8: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16: God is love.

1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:19: We love because he first loved us.

Romans 8:38, 39: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Problems happen. Problems come, and problems go. Problems come because of stupid things we do, and problems come because of bad things other people do. Everybody’s got problems. But no, God is not sitting on a cloud like some Greek god or goddess, tossing lightning bolts, stirring up the seas, sending a cyclops around to munch our bones. 

God’s love seeks our highest and best. The book of Job reminds us that bad things do happen to good people. Where do good people, and people like you and me, go when bad things happen? We go to God. 

We tell God what we think and what we feel. We ask for his help. We seek relief. We ask for direction. 

We learned to trust that God will never leave us or forsake us. Just like the Bible says, more times than you can count, “Fear not,” it also says repeatedly, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Joshua 1:9 can be the comfort we need, the courage we need, no matter what we face. You might want to commit these words to memory. 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Everywhere means everywhere. We are commanded to be strong. We are commanded to be courageous. We can obey this command by trusting God from the bottom of our hearts. 

I don’t blame God for my problems. I know I’m responsible for 99.9% of them. I trust God to deliver me through my problems. I trust Him to deliver me around future problems as I hear what He has to say and put it into practice. Aren’t you glad there’s a hymn called “Trust and Obey”? It’s a really good reminder. 

I will not blame God for my problems. I will not seek to justify myself in the face of my problems. And when things are unclear regarding the source of my problems or what to do next, I will lean in and trust God because he is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is seeking my highest and best no matter what. He loves me with an endless love, and he’s never gonna stop. 
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I’m no saint. God is God, and he is good. He’s still working on me. (See Philippians 1:6.) Some of his refining work is a little more painful than the rest. What it makes possible is worth it. 

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I will thank God because He is better than I know, and His plans and purposes are perfectly aligned to empower me to accomplish all He ever dreamed I would do, and make me all He ever dreamed I would be. 

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Our Father, standing here today speaking these words, I can confidently say that I trust you from the bottom of my heart. I also remember times when I wasn’t nearly so sure of your trustworthiness. There will probably be times in the future when I wonder again about your love, mercy, and kindness. Even so, I know that in the clear light of the Day of All Days that is to come, you will be perfectly justified in all you have done and all you have allowed. You will replace my grief with eternal joy. You will wipe away every one of my tears, and you will show me what only you could see, and I can appreciate only at that time. Amen.