does God need forgiveness?
does God need forgiveness?
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With so much suffering, some Christians say we ought to forgive God—not just for earthquakes and tsunamis that wipe out whole villages, but for small afflictions, too. When people go through deep pain or hurt, or an abusive situation at home, some counselors advise that in order for emotional healing to take place, one must first forgive God for allowing the abuse to happen.
This happened to Roy, an elderly man struggling with the last stages of macular degeneration. His city is buying up the property his house is built on, and he may lose his home. He’s also losing his son-in-law to cancer. Although a Christian, Roy is confused. Some people have counseled him, “Roy, you need to forgive God for all this!” Forgive God? Don’t those counselors have it backward? The Bible never directs us to do such a thing. To “forgive” God implies that he has done something wrong. But has he?
Job lost everything he had in one day—his flocks and herds, his working animals, his servants, and finally even his children. When he got all the bad news, “Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship... In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing” [italics mine] (Job 1:20–22).
The Bible says that nothing—not cancer, blindness, or eviction from our homes, not even abuse from others—nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:35). So are we to forgive God for loving us too hard? Our human inclination may want to charge God with wrongdoing, but God’s dealings with us are always motivated by love and concern for our souls.
So what is the right thing to do? Hebrews 12:3 tells us, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Look at the way Jesus forgave and even loved those who nailed him to a tree—consider afresh the enormous sacrifice Jesus made. No matter how much we are suffering, it’s good to focus on what Jesus did for us at Calvary. “For the message of the cross is… the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). If we want to understand God’s hand in our hardship—as well as experience God’s power in that hardship—all questions are put to rest at the Cross!