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For MORE QUESTIONS like this, click here.

A while back I was asked this question. I think that it is a question that alot of people might ask, so I thought we could discuss it.

Question -

Hi, Trent! I had a lot of rotten things happen between 1984 and 1998. A
lot of these also happened to my son but only worse.

I've had a great (to me!) relationship with the Lord since 2000, but I
keep hitting these pockets of resentment and distrust when I'm reminded of
that period.

The Holy Spirit has led me several times to a place in Proverbs where it
says something like a fool is one who makes bad choices and then blames
God for the results. That is a lot of what happened.

So - I know I was wrong in many ways, but I still have a hard time not
getting angry and frustrated with the Lord for not rescuing my son, if not
me.

Got any good shortcuts? ; ) I know that God knows more than I do, that
He works all things for good for those who love Him, that if I can just
give God my attachment to the things I've lost that He can give me even
better but here I'm stuck between my head and my heart.

end o question. What do you say to someone like that?

Well, I prayed about how I could answer her. We could also discuss the answer that I gave this person:

It seems to me that you have a thought in the back of your mind that irritates you like a splinter that you cannot remove. For a while you forget about it, but then you rub up against the splinter and it is all you can think about. It is funny how small things can steal the most life.

I don't think that the splinter is permanent, and I don't think that you think that it is here to stay, or you would not be asking for help. You want to get rid of it, but you don't know how and/or lack the stomach for the pain that might be involved in it's removal.

Yes, I said pain, because it is often painful to look into the mirror, and that is where I am going to have you look.

I don't know what took place in those years, but I know that it involved suffering. I bet you have been thinking that there are those people that have not had those circumstances or maybe there are those that have been in the same situation and God seemed to rescue them. Am I right? Does it irritate that wound when you hear about God protecting someone? You might wonder why, did God protect them, but not you! Why did God not protect your son?!? Why?

I know the effect that these questions can have on someone. They are jarring and crippling. They spin you out of control. ... the bad news is that I don't have an answer that can make you feel better. I don't think that God loved those that He rescued more then you and your son, do you? Surly, you see that they are not better then you, or more deserving of rescue then you, right? HOWEVER, They were rescued and you were not, and there is no logic or reason it seems. Even if I had the best reason in the world for all of that suffering, I seriously doubt that it could remove your pain, could it?

God was there, hovering over you and He did nothing. God was hovering over your son and He did nothing. He saw the pain. He saw the hurt. He saw the damage. He could have stopped it, but He did not do anything. IS THIS THE SPLINTER? I think not. The splinter is deeper!

I almost don't want to tell you this. I don't know what this will do for your spiritual walk, or how you will take this, but I have to tell you something. I hope it makes you smile, but I just don't know.

Adam fell and wanted to be like God, and have His glory and have His throne. Ever since then, we all have deluded our minds with the pride of taking God's glory. ... and with the glory, we want to take over the responsibility that only belongs to the ONE that sits on the throne.

You haven't told anyone, but in your mind, YOU have been hovering over your son, and replaying the events. You (not God) have been wondering what YOU could have done to stop the pain, and reverse the suffering. You want another chance ... "if you only did this, if you only could have done that, if you only would have disallowed this to happen." "IF ONLY!"

You are in sin! Get off God's throne!

God does not need you to protect Him, or intervene for Him, of handle His duties. What happened, has "come to pass." That season is over, and there is nothing you can do about it except to realize that it is over, and get on with the present. None of the mistakes in the past mean that you have to make new mistakes today. You have a new moment, so live it like you have a God that is really in charge and really working all things toward good. You are not the Shepherd!

Smiling?

Burn this into your brain: "God can get by without *edited to remove name*; but *edited again* cannot get by without God." Who needs who?

Isn't that a relief? God is God and you are not. You can say that without blaming God for the results of your folly, can you not?
:-)

I say all of this with love.

Ripening for the harvest,

Trent Fuller

• Peeved towards God for dysfunctional family
• Nagging homosexual impulses
• "what can I be doing to bring about spiritual growth?"