Should I be angry?

When we look at the world around us, it can be difficult not to be overwhelmed by the pain we see, even the pain and hurt in our own lives. And just when we think it can't get any worse, someone else looses their life. Cancer claims another victim. A natural disaster sweeps away homes. Evil people pick up weapons and march into public areas firing away. And once again our nation weeps at the loss. We lower the flags to half mast. And people cry out "Why?" Searching for an answer to their pain. Often we find ourselves turning to anger. Anger at anyone who we think causes the hurt. The shooter, the doctors, the president, even God. In truth, this post isn't just about being angry, it's answering the question "should I be angry at God?" And that is a question that almost every Christian would answer with an automatic "of course not" and then we would launch into how God so loved the world. And I completely agree with that common response, but there is much more to it. See, I came across this question as I was studying about the lives of the Jews who survived the Holocaust and how hard it was for their lives to continue. And many people asked (and continue to ask) why did God allow more than 6 million Jews to die? Why would a loving savior watch over 60 million people get slaughtered during the 2nd World War? And why shouldn't we be angry about it?

Now, I am far from the expert on this subject. In fact, deciding on my answer was very hard. And I know everyone has there own opinions on predestination or free will, but basically God gave us a choice. And we all decided to sin. We all decided to betray God and take Satan's bait. Because of that, we are punished with death. So, why would God give us free will? Why even create us? I mean, who would create people just to watch them suffer and die?
Before I go any further I want to say that these are questions I have struggled with. Problems that I couldn't find the solutions to, and so I really began to question why I am here. From what I discovered, I tried to form answers. They aren't perfect. But some things, I believe, were meant to be a mystery. And one day, we will find out the perfect answers. For now, here's what I decided. And it all has to do with puppies.

I don't know if you have any pets, but we do, we own two dogs. We decided that we should have a liter of puppies. That we would bring into the world more animals. Hopefully we could then sell them to good homes. Having those puppies gave us intense joy. We got to see them learn, watch them grow, and help them enjoy life. A lot of work went into making sure that all of those puppies were happy as much as possible. If you have ever held a puppy than you might know the joy of that. Slowly, the litter grew up and one after one they were sold. But we got to keep one for an extra few weeks, and then later we got to watch him throughout the day while the family was busy. That dog never left my side. I was the one who fed him, trained him, and loved him. It was incredible. But it wasn't perfect. He had to be trained to go outside and there were many accidents in the house. I would scold him or punish him, and yet I still loved him. And I got to see how much he loved me, seeing the trust he placed in me overwhelmed me with joy and love for him. Eventually he had to go to the family that bought him and he stepped out of my life.

When I was looking for answers, that was the example that showed me what it might be like for God to love us. He didn't have to create us, but it gave Him joy. He didn't have to give us everything we needed to survive and love Him, but seeing us happy gave Him joy. We were created to glorify Him, and God did everything possible to make that a reality; including giving us free will. The more I began thinking about this, the more the question popped up "does that mean God is selfish? If all he wants is His own joy?"  No. In fact, His glory is for our joy. As described by the first line of the Westminster Catechism, “Man’s end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We exist to glorify and ENJOY God. There is a link between the glory we bring to God and our own joy. It’s the way we’re wired. If we enjoy Him forever, that means enjoying His glory forever as well. God created us to enjoy His glory, and bring glory to Him. One day, our joy will be made complete in His glory. 

So let's bring it back to the puppy. When I had to punish him, it was for his own good and I still loved him. He had made the choice to do something wrong and had to suffer the consequences, but later would experience my love again. And I realize it can be hard to find the correlation between punishing a dog and allowing over 60 million people to die, yet the principle is the same. We chose to betray God, we are suffering the consequences. But He didn't just allow us to suffer the consequences. He doesn't just watch us suffer with no compassion. Rather, He did the most selfless thing possible. He sent His ONLY Son to live a perfect life and die a criminal's death. Why? For who? Because He loved us. He loves us. We betrayed Him, and He had compassion. This is the Good News. 

No, we should not be angry at God. If we must be angry, that anger should be directed at the sin that we commit. The sin the caused the deaths in the first place. But we aren't just called to hate that sin, we should be actively fighting it. Spreading love. There are people who are angry at God. But we shouldn't be. And someone needs to tell them that. God didn't create us just to watch us suffer and die, He did it so that He could be honored through OUR JOY!! 

Yes, I loved that puppy, but I couldn't have sent someone to die for him. But God loves us with a perfect love and sent His Son to die so that our joy could be complete in Him one day.

And that, is much more than puppy love.