Mad… (at God).

We have been talking about how regardless of what has happened to us in life, there is never a good reason to not be planted in a church. We have been offended by the people we work with from time to time, but that does not stop us from showing up, why? Because we need the money. In the same sense, we can’t afford to not be in church because we need Jesus.

I have done the no church life. Just me and Jesus. That’s the biggest lie I ever told myself. I wasn’t in church not because I just wanted it to be me and Jesus. That is the excuse I would give but I wasn’t in church because I was mad at Jesus. Yes, we have talked about people hurting us. What about when we feel let down by God? There are people who are not in church because they were offended, hurt or disappointed by God. Now, very few people ever come right out and say that they are mad at God. For the most part it is buried deep inside and people feel distant and separated from God and they are not sure why that has happened.

I am not saying everyone who is mad at God is not in church, there are some who are good at hiding in plain sight. They are in church but refuse to face and deal with their feelings towards God.

I think it’s important for us to know and understand that our anger and frustration do not change who God is. It does not make Him hate us or love us less or even think less of us. It does not intimidate Him or make Him draw back. But it does hurt His heart when we do not give Him a chance to come sit with us in those places. In this generation of airing and ghosting people we have somewhat lost the art of facing things and dealing with uncomfortable conversations head on, but we need to do it if we want to grow and mature in Christlikeness. That includes bringing our anger and frustrations to God and just being plain honest with Him. He can see it and knows it is there anyway, so you may as well talk about it and hear how He sees things. Otherwise, if we don’t do that, we remain stuck in life. Stuck in our anger and hurt and hurt others along the way because hurt people, hurt people.  

I was listening to Levi Lusko. He lost his 5 year old daughter 5 days before Christmas in 2012. I cannot imagine the pain and devastation he and his family went through. I heard Levi say in an interview recently, that he felt angry, not with God, just angry. But he was honest to God about it and the moment he told God he was angry, God said to him that He was mad too. He was furious too. He was so mad and He was going to do something about it!

Sometimes we are mad and there’s nothing we can do, but God always has a way to heal, redeem, restore, strengthen, comfort or confront us, whatever is needed in the moment. In my season of being mad, I didn’t want to go to God with it because deep down I knew it wasn’t really God’s fault. I just wasn’t ready to admit that God was right, and I was wrong and my pride had got me in some bad situations I should have never been in.

When we invite God into our hurt, we soon realise that we are not alone in that place. God didn’t do “this” to us. Whatever your this may be. It happened because of bad decisions on our part or simply because we live in a fallen world. God can’t stop everything without having to take away our free will. The fact that you can be mad at God means you have your free will intact. We cannot ask God to take away someone else’s free will and keep ours because believe it or not, you have hurt someone, offended someone or been the cause of someone’s tears. So free will exists and we cannot blame God for what someone else did or what happened. Yes, even the things we feel He could have done something about but didn’t. But do you know who the best person is to process that with? Jesus.

Sitting at home alone will only drive you further and further away from Him. Like with our example from last week, food can sometimes give you food poisoning, but if you stop eating altogether, you die. When we stop walking with God, we die. Not physically but spiritually. We need to stay connected to the vine.

John 15:1,2 and 4 says, “I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine.”

You can’t be connected to the vine by your lonesome. Gotta be part of a branch somewhere. We learnt last week that Jesus is the Head and the Church is His body. The Church is made up of many body parts or branches across the world. All these metaphors are about community. God is big on family. Even in the Godhead we have our Father and Jesus His Son. That is a family dynamic right there. When God decided to introduce Himself to us, He wanted us to know that He is a Dad. It matters to Him that we be part of a family. The moment any part of a branch is disconnected from the Vine, it begins to wither and die. Life comes from the vine.

When we are not in church, things may work for a while but after some time if we really look at it, there is no peace, no lasting joy and no hope for the future. We are met with emptiness and loneliness that cannot be explained. You can be in a room full of people and still feel alone.

We are made for family. God’s family. It’s amazing how often I go to church with questions, and the answers are in the message preached or God speaks to me in praise and worship. Does that mean God doesn’t speak to me at home? He does. But it’s a whole different level of encounter when I am in His house with my church family. Why? Because when we take even the smallest step towards God, putting Him first on a Sunday morning, God takes big giant God sized leaps in our direction. It is God’s heart to pull us in closer and closer to His heart but He can’t do that when we are rejecting His family. His sons and daughters delight to be in His house.

So, you are mad at God? Come bring it to God. Invite Him into that space and soon you will find out that God is not your opp, He is your greatest ally. Come home. Find a church family and plug in.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.