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One of my recent podcasts is titled, Is God Really Testing You? Sometimes instead of saying God is testing them, people say that God brings bad things to you in order to bring you something good. Similar phrases include, “God has a reason, ” and, “everything is just meant to be.”

Phrases like that indicate that whatever difficulty presents itself, it is something that came from God. That kind of thinking doesn’t agree with the Bible. I John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” In that same epistle it says, “God is love.” It says in Chapter 1 of the book of James, that God cannot be tempted with evil and neither does He tempt any person.

I certainly believe God can close one door and open another door. You can see that in the Scriptures many times. I’ve seen that happen in my life. And I must admit that on a few occasions, I ignored a closed door, and the results were not very pleasant.

But on the other hand, God does not bring bad things into our lives so He can then give us something good. God does not bring hardships into our lives to test us or to try our faith to see if we really love Him.

If a dad tied his children up with rope so tight it hurt them, and then told them he was testing their love for him, he should go to jail. Yet, some people indicate that’s exactly what God does. And, sadly, there are a lot of Christians who wrongly believe that God is orchestrating everything in the world, and thus is responsible for hurtful things they are facing.

If you’re a fan of the Bible you probably remember Jesus said, “The thief comes not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Do we really want to call God a thief? No! No! No!

Another phrase you may hear is, “Everything happens for a reason?” Again, people say this means God orchestrated it. Or, sometimes they say, “That was just meant to be.”

When my wife was laid up in the hospital last year, enduring a very serious illness, she had occasion to say some very helpful things to the girl in the bed next to hers.

If everything happens “for a reason,” or, everything is just “meant to be,” did God bring this illness on my wife because He wanted her to be at a precise location at a precise time just so she could speak to that young lady and help her?

Maybe to some that might sound godly and spiritual. But do they really believe the Creator of the heavens and earth is so limited that He needs to bring a serious illness to someone in order to arrange for them to say something to someone that would help them? Ludicrous!

Things do happen for a reason, because of cause and effect. Here’s a simple example. Almost every driver knows for their car engine to operate properly, it needs to have the proper amount of oil. If it runs out of oil, it will ruin the engine. So, if someone’s engine gets ruined for a lack of oil, was that just meant to be?

Does God have a reason for that engine to be ruined? Don’t things happen for a reason? Yes, they do, and in this case, the reason was a lack of oil.

As I mentioned earlier, God does open doors for us. The Bible says He directs our steps, lights our path, and that He is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure. And despite His promises and desire for people to receive His best, God still honors the free will He gave us. But ruins our car engine? Give us a sickness? Brings us hardships and tragedies? Absolutely not!

The thief is real. There is evil in this world. There is disease. There are circumstances beyond our control that bring challenges our way at times. But they are not orchestrated by our loving God.

In those trying times, we can turn to God in prayer, asking for His help. We can put our trust in the promises He had written for us in His Word. We can then with confidence in Him, expect His help and deliverance.

Maybe instead of attributing everything in the world that happens as being orchestrated by God, we should pray and ask for His help, and trust Him for His help, however He chooses to bring it.

Mike Verdicchio
2022