Overdrew your account and bounced five checks before you got the funds to cover it and all those overdraft charges cost you a small fortune?

Your brother heisted an old jalopy, swiped some candy bars, stole a few cartons of smokes, drove off without paying for a tank of gas, ran a red light, was chased down by the cops and arrested? After all was said and done, young Billy is in prison, and you’re going to tell me that God did this to straighten him out?

Oh puhhhleeese! Your foolish little brother got busted for his stupid, careless and dishonest behavior; these are called natural consequences.

You steal – you go to jail.

You lie – you lose trust.

You cheat – you suffer consequences.

You stick your finger on a hot skillet, you get burned.

God does NOT do bad things!!

Repeat after me: “God. Does. Not. Do. Bad. Things”.

(You fill in the blank: God does not _________”).

How do I know this? I know this because He is a LOVING God. He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. You may insist on YOUR own way and get into tons of trouble, but He is always there. He is with you always. He sent His Son to die for us so that we may have eternal life when we deserved to die.

Back in the day, God knew, even then, that some well meaning, self-righteous person would suggest that God put little brother Billy in jail, “to teach him a lesson”. Think about it: Today, if an earthy father put his child’s finger on the stove “to teach her a lesson”, that would be deemed CHILD ABUSE! Why then do we say that God is cruel like this? He addressed such foolishness in the book of James, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” (James 1:13). Why is it so hard to believe we serve a LOVING God?

When little brother Billy was sent to prison, he began to see the error of his (foolish, stupid) ways and THEN, he turned to a loving God. This young man made some very bad choices, and he landed in the pokey. But God met him where he was. God’s goodness is attractive!

My former pastor taught that God meets us where we are. If life has beaten you to pulp, God is there in the midst; turn to Him. He has never left you, and He never will.

Abba Father,

As I go about my day, thank you that you are always here, always with me. Please guide me to                     make the right choices, but when I don’t, please remind me to come back home.

I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

All scripture is taken from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

© 2015 Cat Brennan