With so many unloveable things, situations, traits, and so on to choose from, sometimes it takes me awhile to pick one. So what do I hate today? Invoking God. Not always. But yes, sometimes. Many times, in fact. Don’t assume from this post that I’m not a man of faith. I am. Even so, about half the time someone invokes God as the cause of or the reason for whatever just happened, I think, “Are you crazy?”
The personal message from God ranks high on this list. Some crazy mother murders her six children, sets the trailer on fire and drives off to parts unknown. When arrested, she explains her actions. “God told me He wanted the children.” Well, alrighty then. Another mother packs the kids into the family minivan and drives into the ocean. Why? God told her to, of course.
But you don’t have to be insane to worship God and invoke his presence. Every time a tornado obliterates a town, destroying schools, churches, homes and hospitals, mark my words: numerous survivors will say God was looking out for them. “God was obviously looking after us,” says someone standing in the midst of fourteen square miles of unrecognizable debris. I would hate to think what the situation would be if he wasn’t. “When I seen that big ol’ steel beam ’bout to land on my haid and then it blowed ‘tother way? Right then I knowed the Lord was watchin’ over me. And look at my double-wide. Not a scratch.” Other survivors will likewise say God saved their lives too. It happens after every storm. Do you ever hear those comments and wonder how they sound to the families of those who did die in the storm? Reading between the lines it’s as if those people are saying, “God must not have thought you were worth the trouble.” Or “The Lord spared our little two-bedroom house. Sorry about your hospitals, daycare centers, schools and nursing homes.” That sounds unbelievably arrogant. If he personally spared you, the implication is clear: he personally killed the ones who died, or at least didn’t bother to protect them.
I get that same vibe when the parents of a child who has been treated for cancer are interviewed on the news. A child is going home from the hospital cancer-free, and the parents personally thank God for the miracle cure. I understand the emotion of the moment, but aren’t they implying all the other kids still in the hospital aren’t BFFs with God and their child was judged worthy of the miracle?
It would be more sensitive and loving and compassionate (and accurate) after a tragedy to say something like, “We’re grateful to God to be alive, and mourn those who aren’t.”