The Opposite of God

"The Opposite of God"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Gail Wiley on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.

This Morning's Scripture reading is:
Judges 6:1-17

I have been pondering something for quite a while now. It has been bothering me for years but lately I am really struggling with it. I would like to know why God allows bad things to happen. It is a frustrating question because God never really answers it.

In some instances in the bible, God is upset at the people’s bad behavior such as Sodom and Gomorrah or when God made the Israelites wander in the desert because they worshiped false idols. But what about when bad things happen to good people. People who didn’t do anything to deserve it. Every day, I look around and see terrible things happening. Flooding, fires, people who are loved dying, and I have to ask why a God who is suppose to love us lets this happen.

Well, I still don’t have the answer but I thought I would share with you my ponderings and some of the conclusions I came to. Today’s sermon is going to be a search for understanding. Now if any of you have anything to add, please feel free to chime in. No reason we can’t ponder this together.

My first thought was to see if I could find anything in the bible where someone asks God why and see what his answer is. I am not the Bible smarty pants that Kirk is but so far, he isn’t talking. In Judges 6:1-17, the Israelites are being tormented by the Midianites. Gideon asks the Lord why. Here is the passage.

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. 7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."

So God is playing the punishing parent again but listen to this part….

11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." 14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "But Lord , ^[^a^] " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Ok, that is not an answer. Gideon isn’t a bad guy. He didn’t do anything to deserve this yet when he asks God why, God just tells him to go out and do something about it. However, when Gideon protests, God also says, I will be with you.

Can you imagine what this poor kid was thinking. He is out there, trying to save what what little his family has left, he has lived in fear for 7 years. I am sure many of his friends and family have died or suffered. The angel of the LORD comes to him and he can finally ask…

"Ok, what is going on here, why have you abandoned us?" Then the Angel replies "Tell you what, you go and defeat the Midianites.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I am just a kid, I am nobody." The Angel says, "Don’t worry, I’ll go with you. "Yea right. Are you really God? Lenny is that you… Ok, not funny dude. No really, I am the Angel of the Lord and we are going to take care of this together…..

Well Gideon did go ahead and defeated the midianites with 300 men the lord helped him pick out. Then he went on to leave bibles in hotel rooms.

So God didn’t say why but… He did however say that we don’t have to face our trials alone.

Here is another thought I had on the subject. Everything has an opposite. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Perhaps Good cannot exist without evil. The opposite of up is down, good/evil, Jesus/Satin, rich/poor, happy/sad, life/death and so on. However I could not come up with an opposite for God. It isn’t Satin because Satin isn’t a God. He was created by God. Jesus brings us to God, Satin leads us away. The only opposite to God I could come up with is no God. There is never been no God. From the very beginning of man’s existence we have always known we are not alone. God has taken many shapes and had many names but mankind has always believed we are not alone. Sometimes there was one God, sometimes he had friends. Even in multi-theistic societies however, there was still a main God. In Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh Achinamin went so far as to declare that there was only one God and for a short time, Egypt was a monotheistic society under rah the sun god. His son Tut didn’t agree and promptly switched it back when he took over but the point is that there has never been no God. The only place I can think of where there would be no God is in our private hearts. When we choose to not let God in, that is when we are truly alone and the troubles around us become unbearable. When we allow God into our hearts and lives, we are better equipped to deal with the bad things and turn them around.

So God doesn’t stop evil but he helps us handle it. The ultimate of bad things happening to good people would be his own son Jesus. Jesus was arrested, tortured, crucified, and died. Even he cried out in anguish and pain "My God, why have you abandoned me." Guess what, he didn’t get an answer either. He also knew that he wasn’t abandoned and that God was with him and in three days he rose from the dead and eventually ascended into heaven. He gave himself over to God and eventually, everything worked out.

So perhaps in our own pain and anguish when we are crying out "Why have you abandoned me we need to stop and give ourselves over to God and we will find that we really are not abandoned and that with God’s help we can move forward, rebuild, heal our hearts and be happy again.

That really isn’t an easy thing to do. Sounds simple but if it was that easy, we wouldn’t have so many people (including myself) on anti depressants. Oh yea, I struggle too and my life isn’t that bad. Things could be a lot worse. So how do we cope when we have lost everything or when someone we love dies. How do we find comfort, how do we let go of it all and let God take over. How do we let him in.

Gideon did it by doing what God told him to do. Jesus did it by giving himself completely to God. Many others do it by helping others with the same problem. For instance, Dawn and her MS walk. Somehow by coming together with our common problems, we can help each other let God in. In giving of ourselves to others we can give ourselves to God.

Ok one more thought. God promises us that this world is not the end and that Death is only the beginning. If Jesus’s love is unconditional than our loved ones are with him. Perhaps our comfort is that nobody’s life on this earth is forever but our lives with Christ are. So the people we morn will be with us again. Perhaps we can find comfort in knowing that they no longer suffer or face hardships and that they are watching over us..

Anyway, think about how you can let God give you comfort. I still don’t have the answer. I don’t think I ever will. But I do know that I am not alone.