Devotions for Times of Crisis ~ Day 3: Why is God Punishing Me?
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:8,10)
The nearly constant companion of those in the early stages of a crisis is the lingering sense that they are being punished by God. They may ask the question directly, “Why is God punishing me?” though often the question is worded “What have I done to deserve this?” They have a real and crushing sense that God is punishing them. So they immediately start pouring over their lives to see if there is some secret sin, or some weakness of character, that lays at the bottom of the punishment they’re now receiving: “Was I inconsiderate to someone that was sick, so that the Lord is giving me a taste of what that’s like to teach me a lesson?” Or, “Was I not a good enough steward with my money so that the Lord has taken away my job in order to punish me for my stinginess?” Or “Is my child threatened with serious sickness because I didn’t pay enough attention to him or love her enough? Is God threatening to take her away to teach me to cherish him?” The list could go on and on and on and on.
It’s sad that we have such thoughts, for they betray a fundamental distrust of God’s love and a fundamental skepticism of His Goodness. But we can’t seem to help it, or to keep the thoughts from coming. They just happen. They happen because we have a “cause-and-effect” mentality hardwired into our brains. For every effect we seek a cause. When bad things happen to us in life we immediately start searching for a cause, and if we can’t find a cause in the environment around us, then we start to search for one inside of us, or in our relationship with God. So we naturally think, “I must have done something to bring this on. God is punishing me for something.”
In the face of these feelings Christians have a strong defense if they will cling to God’s Word as Truth. God cannot lie, and what He tells us in His Word over and over and over again is that God “does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10).
We cannot know why God allows certain things to come into our lives, but we do know at least two things: One, that God does not bring these things into our lives; He is not the source of evil in our lives. The source of evil in our lives is sin. Two, that our crisis is NOT a punishment from God. God is certainly angry over our sins, but ALL of His anger over our sin was taken out on Jesus. Not one drop, not one tittle of His anger over our sin is left to be dropped on us. 100% of God’s anger over our sin was taken out on Jesus. It was completely spent on Jesus; not 99.9%, but 100%. So there is no anger left in God that would cause him to punish us by means of a crisis.
Jesus tells us that we should expect only good things from God now, never bad things. So whatever our crisis is, it is not a punishment from God. It is the effect of sin in this world. It is the random happening of evil in this world, that may not carry any existential meaning at all (a hard thought to accept, granted). It is an attack by the Devil. It could be any of these things, but one thing it will never be is a punishment from God.
God may use the evil that comes into our lives to discipline us, but He does not bring them into our lives in order to do so, nor does He seek to punish us through them. The punishment for your sin was carried by Jesus on His cross. As Isaiah reminds us, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
Rest certain in the knowledge that your crisis is not a punishment, that there is no secret or hidden fault in you, that God is faithful, good, and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love; that He does not treat you as your sins deserve but shows compassion to those who love and fear him (Ps. 103).
Prayer: Dear Jesus, because you suffered the anger of God for my sin in my place I know that the crisis I am in is not a punishment from you. It feels like it sometimes, Lord, but please strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit to accept, believe, and trust that it is not. Your Word has promised that You do not treat me as my sins deserve. Help me to find comfort and peace in knowing that whatever this crisis may be, it is not a punishment. You are walking through it with me, and you are not standing over me or against me. You love me, though I don’t deserve it, and you will not forsake me. May these, Your promises, strengthen me to face this crisis. In Your name I pray. Amen.
Devotions for Times of Crisis ~ Day 3: Why is God Punishing Me?
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:8,10)
The nearly constant companion of those in the early stages of a crisis is the lingering sense that they are being punished by God. They may ask the question directly, “Why is God punishing me?” though often the question is worded “What have I done to deserve this?” They have a real and crushing sense that God is punishing them. So they immediately start pouring over their lives to see if there is some secret sin, or some weakness of character, that lays at the bottom of the punishment they’re now receiving: “Was I inconsiderate to someone that was sick, so that the Lord is giving me a taste of what that’s like to teach me a lesson?” Or, “Was I not a good enough steward with my money so that the Lord has taken away my job in order to punish me for my stinginess?” Or “Is my child threatened with serious sickness because I didn’t pay enough attention to him or love her enough? Is God threatening to take her away to teach me to cherish him?” The list could go on and on and on and on.
It’s sad that we have such thoughts, for they betray a fundamental distrust of God’s love and a fundamental skepticism of His Goodness. But we can’t seem to help it, or to keep the thoughts from coming. They just happen. They happen because we have a “cause-and-effect” mentality hardwired into our brains. For every effect we seek a cause. When bad things happen to us in life we immediately start searching for a cause, and if we can’t find a cause in the environment around us, then we start to search for one inside of us, or in our relationship with God. So we naturally think, “I must have done something to bring this on. God is punishing me for something.”
In the face of these feelings Christians have a strong defense if they will cling to God’s Word as Truth. God cannot lie, and what He tells us in His Word over and over and over again is that God “does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10).
We cannot know why God allows certain things to come into our lives, but we do know at least two things: One, that God does not bring these things into our lives; He is not the source of evil in our lives. The source of evil in our lives is sin. Two, that our crisis is NOT a punishment from God. God is certainly angry over our sins, but ALL of His anger over our sin was taken out on Jesus. Not one drop, not one tittle of His anger over our sin is left to be dropped on us. 100% of God’s anger over our sin was taken out on Jesus. It was completely spent on Jesus; not 99.9%, but 100%. So there is no anger left in God that would cause him to punish us by means of a crisis.
Jesus tells us that we should expect only good things from God now, never bad things. So whatever our crisis is, it is not a punishment from God. It is the effect of sin in this world. It is the random happening of evil in this world, that may not carry any existential meaning at all (a hard thought to accept, granted). It is an attack by the Devil. It could be any of these things, but one thing it will never be is a punishment from God.
God may use the evil that comes into our lives to discipline us, but He does not bring them into our lives in order to do so, nor does He seek to punish us through them. The punishment for your sin was carried by Jesus on His cross. As Isaiah reminds us, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
Rest certain in the knowledge that your crisis is not a punishment, that there is no secret or hidden fault in you, that God is faithful, good, and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love; that He does not treat you as your sins deserve but shows compassion to those who love and fear him (Ps. 103).
Prayer: Dear Jesus, because you suffered the anger of God for my sin in my place I know that the crisis I am in is not a punishment from you. It feels like it sometimes, Lord, but please strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit to accept, believe, and trust that it is not. Your Word has promised that You do not treat me as my sins deserve. Help me to find comfort and peace in knowing that whatever this crisis may be, it is not a punishment. You are walking through it with me, and you are not standing over me or against me. You love me, though I don’t deserve it, and you will not forsake me. May these, Your promises, strengthen me to face this crisis. In Your name I pray. Amen.