God Does NOT Bring Calamity - NewCREEations

Far too often in Christian circles we hear things like, “God brought this [sickness / disease / tragedy / judgement] to teach me and grow me.”

That’s a boat load of crap.

You think that’s harsh? I’m sorry. But that’s what it is.

God does NOT bring calamity on us.

He is NOT judging us for our sins.

Natural disasters are NOT “acts of God.”

Bad Things Happen to Good People

Do bad things happen to godly people?

Absolutely. All the time. You’d have to be in serious denial to think otherwise.

In fact, the Bible, and Jesus himself teach us that we’ll have problems come against us in this life. Jesus said that we’d have trouble in this world, but then he went on to tell us to take heart, or as the Amplified Bible says it, “take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted,” because He has overcome the world.

Jesus also promised we’d face persecutions, even in the midst of being blessed.

Yes bad things happen all the time, to good people and to not so good folks. But God is NOT the cause of them.

Making Lemonade vs. Handing Out Lemons

A lot of folks look at Romans 8:28 which says,

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Many people look at that and say, “See! God brought this on me to do good things with it. He gave me this cancer so that he would be glorified”

Wrong, wrong and wrong!

Yes, God is with you through the cancer. Yes he will bring good from it and will be glorified as you draw closer to him in your trial. God will take that lemon and make lemonade out of it.

But God did NOT bring it on you.

God is in the business of taking our lemons and making lemonade. He’s not in the business of handing out lemons.

Do Police Cause Accidents?

Did you ever notice how almost always there are police officers around when there is a traffic accident?

It’s sort of like how God is always present when bad things are happening to us.

Yet if we were to say that because police are at so many accidents then they must be the ones who cause them, we’d be fools.

That’s exactly what people say about God. God’s there in my trial so it must be his fault.

The Man Born Blind

Sometimes people point to Chapter 9 of John, which tells the story of a guy who was born blind that Jesus healed. There’s one verse in particular that people claim says, “God brings sickness so that he will be glorified.” Let’s Look at it in context.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”— John 9:1-5

Jesus didn’t say God made this guy blind so that God would be glorified in it.

Basically what Jesus is saying is, “It’s not about the cause of the blindness or how it started. Watch this!”

The important thing is that God is going to end his blindness today. Sure God will be glorified. He’s glorified in the removal and healing of sickness and disease, not in causing it.

Jesus Only Heals

Look through the New Testament and find where Jesus put sickness on someone. You won’t find a single instance. Not one.

Contrast that to the number of times Jesus healed someone. There are dozens of times that it says Jesus healed people. And it wasn’t just a onesy, twosy thing either. There are several instances where Jesus healed everyone in the crowd who was sick.

Here are some examples.

But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.— Matthew 12:15

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. — Matthew 14:14

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. — Luke 4:40

What About Ananias & Sapphira?

In Acts 5 we read about a couple who lied about their giving to the church and dropped dead on the spot.

But nowhere does the Bible say that God struck them dead. Peter had a word of knowledge and told Sappira she would die just like her husband did. But Peter never says that God did it.

But the Bible is Full of God Striking People Down!

It’s true, the Bible does talk a ton about God striking people down. The Old Testament is full of smoting and smiting.

Here’s the thing. In the Old Testament God worked under an entirely different covenant than we have now.

The deal then was, “If you follow the law you will be blessed. If you break it you will be cursed.” Deuteronomy 28 has 14 verses of blessing followed by 54 verses of curses.

The Israelites agreed to that and entered into that covenant with God at the mountain with Moses. That was the deal and God had to honor the deal. When people blew it, they got the curses. And they mostly blew it.

However we’ve got a whole new deal now.

Jesus Cursed So We Could Be Blessed

Jesus lived in complete fulfillment of the law. He never sinned and never broke the law. And then he suffered the curses that everyone in the entire world deserved because they violated the law and sinned.

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” — Galatians 3:13

God is no longer cursing us with disease and calamity. Everything mentioned in those 54 verses of curses found in Deuteronomy 28? As believers in Jesus we’re now exempt from them because Jesus took those curses for us.

Yes, the bullet was aimed at us. But Jesus took the bullet for us.

Not only did Jesus take the curse that we earned through our sins, but now we who believe are entitled to all the blessings in the Bible too!

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.— 2 Corinthians 1:20

That means those 14 verses of blessing, and every other blessing that is promised to those who fulfill the law is ours because Jesus did fulfill the law for us. He took our curses so now we get his blessings.

Here in the new covenant God is now in the blessing business. He is not bringing calamity on us anymore.

Used with permission from Chris Cree.