Giving God "credit" for both good and bad?

[dysert]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

 

[Newman1992]

Me? No, I never look back at the negative things, bible says think forward and don't look back. So with that being sad, I will never Thank God for "Bad" Things, God is all knowning and knows what's best for us, and I never look back in the past so there is no room to thank him for "Bad" Things. Nothing is bad, he has a plan for us and you cannot blaim any action on Jesus, why? Because he is perfect, there is no such thing as God doing something "bad". Everything God does is a good thing and should be motivation for us to move forward.

 

[dysert]

Me? No, I never look back at the negative things, bible says think forward and don't look back. So with that being sad, I will never Thank God for "Bad" Things, God is all knowning and knows what's best for us, and I never look back in the past so there is no room to thank him for "Bad" Things. Nothing is bad, he has a plan for us and you cannot blaim any action on Jesus, why? Because he is perfect, there is no such thing as God doing something "bad". Everything God does is a good thing and should be motivation for us to move forward.

Thanks, but you wouldn't necessarily have to look back. There can be bad things going on in the present (witness hurricanes, kidnapings, rapes, etc.). And I'm not even saying that God is doing the bad thing -- just allowing it to happen. If my child has gone missing, do I say that God is allowing him to remain missing just as I might say that God allowed him to be found?

Bad things certainly do happen, and God is sovereign. I'm just asking if it's appropriate to assign God responsibility for the bad things just as we might give Him glory for the good things?

 

[Ark100]

NO God is not responsible for bad things and you cant give Him 'credit' for bad things for He didn't cause them, and no one gives credit to anyone for bad things happening. The fact that God did not stop them does not mean He allows them. We have free will.
Even Jesus said we should take heart for we may face trials but light is at the end of the tunnel.

 

[dysert]

The fact that God did not stop them does not mean He allows them.

Sorry. I'm not trying to be difficult, and I certainly don't want to argue. I am honestly seeking an answer to my initial question. But what you say here doesn't make sense to me. Don't you think that God is in control? If He is, then doesn't everything that happens do so because He has allowed it? Doesn't He allow hurricanes and tsunamis to occur? Or are you saying that these disasters occur outside of His control?

Thanks.

 

[TheDag]

NO God is not responsible for bad things and you cant give Him 'credit' for bad things for He didn't cause them, and no one gives credit to anyone for bad things happening. The fact that God did not stop them does not mean He allows them. We have free will.

I personally believe God can stop anything from happening. i also believe he gave us free will and he does not interfere with free will in these times. One just need read the story of Job to see God does allow bad things to happen. Is this what you meant or do you believe what you said the first time?

 

[TheDag]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

i think it is perhaps a phrasing problem here. I never give God credit when bad things happen. I do praise God when bad things happen. I do not praise him for the bad things happening. When my child passed away i was upset. The last thing I felt like doing was praising God. however the bible tells us that God is always worthy of praise and that praise is powerful. So even though I didn't want to I started singing praise to God. Before long i couldn't sing because of the tears however that was the start of God healing me. Does that make sense?

i do know many people say they don't believe in God because of bad things that have happened. What is always interesting is that they don't acknowledge God when the good things happen to them.

 

[AmbryRye]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

Maybe not the "credit" for the bad things, but you can give Him the credit for the valuable lessons you can learn from them, from the strength and wisdom you can learn.

We are also to praise Him through the difficult times.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

A wonderful story in the Bible is the one about Paul and Silas in prison. At Acts 16:25, it says that at midnight Paul and Silas began praying and singing hymns to God. They were in prison, yet they still praised God. Then God caused a great earthquake and they were set free.

Praise can do wonders during bad times. It lifts your spirit and it gets God's ear.

 

[Theofane]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

It just wouldn't feel right to praise God when bad things happen. It would be like changing bitter into sweet. The question is, What is you faith strong enough to endure? Can you trust in God when others can't?

 

[Theofane]

if god controls everything, then yes he would have to be to blame for all the evils in the world..

And none of the good?

And what about the free agency of man? We've been given the ability to choose and think and make of the world what we will.

 

[dysert]

It just wouldn't feel right to praise God when bad things happen. It would be like changing bitter into sweet. The question is, What is you faith strong enough to endure? Can you trust in God when others can't?

This could get real deep real fast...

No, it certainly doesn't feel right to me either to praise God when bad happen. But don't we as Christians follow the Word instead of our feelings? Otoh, what am I supposed to think when a tornado has just obliterated a town?

You ask if I can trust in God when others can't. Trust Him for what? Certainly I continue to trust Him for my eternal life, but beyond that what am I trusting Him for? I can't very well trust Him that a tornado won't hit my town. Or that if one does I'll necessarily be spared.

There are a lot of issues here.

 

[aloou]

God does not want bad things to happen to us. The devil does. God turns all the devil's crap into good if we love Him. We have to choose whether or not to blame God for the bad. We have to choose whether or not to become close to God or bitter with God through our trials. I promise that if we choose closeness He truly works power in our lives.

 

[seeingeyes]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

Short answer? Yes.

I think we do God a disservice when we try to "defend" Him from the bad things that go on in the world. It's His world. He made it. He thought it up. All of it.

And God Himself seems to have no trouble taking credit for disaster:

"Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” (Job 2:3)

"I form the light and create darkness,I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7)


“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (John 9:3)




Consider Joseph. He was a young man who was the favorite son, living the good life, when his ten older brothers decided to kill him...but changed their minds and decided to merely sell him into slavery. After that, Joseph was at different times a slave, a prisoner, a servant, a prophet, and eventually he wound up as second in command over all of Egypt.


Disaster did not come upon him because he was faithless, and glory did not come upon him because he was faithful. All of these things happened in spite of his faith in God. So what was the point then? Why should Joseph have bothered trusting God if it wouldn't improve his lot in life anyway?

Well, as Joseph explained to his brothers later, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Gen 50:20) God orchestrated both good and evil to come to Joseph for the sake of His own plan, for the sake of His own people.

Joseph's whole life was a sacrifice to God. But it didn't have to be that way. He could have bailed out on the whole God thing when he was riding along in that slave caravan, or when he was rotting in prison for years, or while he when cleaning his majesty's toilets. He would have been quite justified in thinking that God had abandoned him to his fate, and taking up with the apparently more "effective" gods of the Pharoah.

But he didn't. He trusted that God was working it out, even while he was still young and sitting in a hole and didn't know how his life would end up. He had the same amazing faith of Abraham who, when he heard God say, "get up and go," got up and went.


So if we attribute good but not disaster to God, we are missing out on the richness and complexity of His story. We are reading the Three Bears with no Goldilocks. And we are giving credit to man that must go to God. He is the Author, and we have to let Him tell His tale.

 

[dysert]

That's an excellent reply, seeingeyes! And Isaiah 45:7 was just the verse I was looking for. Thank you!

 

[Ark100]

Sorry. I'm not trying to be difficult, and I certainly don't want to argue. I am honestly seeking an answer to my initial question. But what you say here doesn't make sense to me. Don't you think that God is in control? If He is, then doesn't everything that happens do so because He has allowed it? Doesn't He allow hurricanes and tsunamis to occur? Or are you saying that these disasters occur outside of His control?

Thanks.

Isaiah 54:15
If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you. - The Lord

My point earlier was you have to remember there are two forces operating in the world. Light and darkness.
God and the enemy. But God is more powerful
Wherever light is, there is no darkness. Even though darkness may be somewhere for a while but when light comes, it prevails over the darkness and the darkness disappears. most of the things I write may not look straightforward, but you have to decipher them if you can. God does not do bad things to His children, and I will stress it again. HE DOES NOT. If bad things happen, it did not come from God.
Jesus came to conquer the enemy, to conquer death. He faced trials and reproach for our sake. Do you think God just sent His son because He desired that His son would go through pain? No.
He sent His son because He wanted to save the world and also establish His final judgement on the enemy.
satan wreaks havocs. We are not called to be close to God for no reason. Satan is an accuser, a liar, a deceiver. He accuses people day and night before God. he has limited power, he is down on earth.

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" - Jesus Christ


Rev 12: 10-12
0 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short

 

[TheDag]

The moment you say "Satan aint got nothin' on me!" is the moment he does.

There's a difference in living in the Spirit of Christ and flat out idiocy.

except they never said that. They did say it was no more a temptation than any other sin. Big difference.

 

[dysert]

i wonder which it is, god wants to bring evil on us or he doesnt???

From the verses I've been finding it seems that God does bring punishment/chastisement on His children (whether the nation of Israel or the Church), but that it's for redeptive purposes. I doubt He "wants" to punish His own, but He must teach us. Much like when I punished my child for disobedience. I didn't really want to punish him, but I did want him to learn important lessons.

 

[dysert]

Lev. 26:14-33 -> But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. `Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

Lev. 26:36-39 -> And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; also in their fathers' iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

2 Sam 7:14 -> I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

Psa. 89:30-32 -> If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.

Psa. 118:18 -> The LORD has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death.

Isa. 45:7 -> I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.

Jer. 11:11 -> Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them."

Hos. 7:12 -> Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them according to what their congregation has heard.

Hos. 10:10 -> When it is My desire, I will chasten them. Peoples shall be gathered against them When I bind them for their two transgressions.

Hag. 2:17 -> `I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,' says the LORD.

Zec. 14:17-18 -> And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Heb. 12:5-6 -> 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."

Rev. 2:23 -> I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Rev. 3:19 -> "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

 

[TheDag]

i wonder which it is, god wants to bring evil on us or he doesnt???

From the verses I've been finding it seems that God does bring punishment/chastisement on His children (whether the nation of Israel or the Church), but that it's for redeptive purposes. I doubt He "wants" to punish His own, but He must teach us. Much like when I punished my child for disobedience. I didn't really want to punish him, but I did want him to learn important lessons.

it should be noted that while God does chastise us like a parent chastises their child for doing wrong this does not mean all bad things that happen to us are from God.

 

[Pal Handy]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, so I’m soliciting input from other believers about it. We all know that God is sovereign and that nothing happens that He doesn’t allow to happen. We also know that both good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians. Most of us probably praise God when He lets good things happen. My question is, do we also give God the “credit” when bad things happen? Should we?

Allowing people to have freewill and allowing them to make choices good or bad does
not sound like God is in control of everything.

God gave man DOMINION over the earth and the first man, Adam
gave that dominion that God gave him, to the devil.

The devil is the god of this world, not the Father of Jesus Christ.

God is good and love while the devil is hatred and evil.

God is not evil or hateful but when the devil and men do not obey God,
they end up doing what is called evil and is the opposite to God's perfect will.

Whatever is not of God's perfect will is wrong, sin and evil.

Jesus taught us to pray...
Father, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on the earth
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

If God is in control of all things and nothing happens apart from His will on this earth,
then why did Jesus tell us to pray and ask the Father that HIS WILL BE DONE?

God has allowed freewill but God is not responsible for those who use
this gift of freewill to disobey His perfect will of perfect love and goodness.

God gave man DOMINION over the limited sphere of influence upon this
earth and the first man, Adam, believed the lied of the devil over God's
words of truth and so the devil has become the god of man and the god of this world
because man has chosen the lies of the devil over the truth of God.

God has remedied all this in that He Himself became a man and took on Himself all the sin,
blame and shame of all men as He hung on our cross of judgement and all He asks is that
we would admit that He is right and we are wrong.

Just as Adam called God a liar by believing the devils words,
God asks each of us to denounce the lies of the devil and believe
in His truth as expressed in Jesus Christ.

By accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord, savior and our only means
of a pardon from an already pronounced death sentence that
hangs over everyone, we will receive a right standing before God
and inherit eternal life.

God is not behind evil, God is the remedy for all of us who
are sinful and disobedient if we renounce the god of this world
as humble ourselves and declare that we are wrong and that only Jesus Christ
is the truth of God revealed to men and the only way to God His Father.

God is our remedy from this fallen world filled with the effects
of those who disobey God and refuse to obey His perfect will.
When our enemies comes against us, we pray and God will either
deliver us or welcome us home, either way we win.

God knows best in these situations because God is good and God
is love so He will cause what the enemy has meant for evil against us to
be transformed into a result that will have eternal consequences
for our good and the good of others if we will trust in Him.