Please, Don't Get Mad at God

 By Stephen Spinnenweber - Posted at Reformation 21:

As Christians in America, and especially the PCA, are still reeling and grieving with our brothers and sisters at Covenant Presbyterian Church and the Covenant School in Nashville, there is an understandable and appropriate righteous indignation that we have all felt welling up inside of us in these recent weeks. Six precious images bearers of God were gunned down in cold blood in what can only be described as a brazen act of terror. Many are angered by the LGBTQ+ movement and its radicalization of this young woman who identified as a transgender-man. Others have voiced their opposition to President Biden’s appalling decision to declare March 31st Transgender Day of Visibility within mere days of the shooting. And, in numbers that I could not have possibly imagined, the mainstream media’s spinning the narrative in such a way as to make Audrey Hale the victim and Covenant School the villain has shocked and angered us all. While I completely understand and share the same indignation over these matters, I cannot join in with those who teach that believers should also be mad at God himself.

In a recent article published by Christianity Today titled, “Go Ahead. Get Mad at God for the Nashville Shooting,” PCA Pastor Scott Sauls argues that it is appropriate to be angry at God when Christians are visited by calamitous acts of providence like what took place in Nashville (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/march-web-only/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-church-get-mad-at-god.html). Citing Martha’s words to Jesus upon the death of her brother, Lazarus, “Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died,” Sauls asks, “Do we dare speak this way to our maker? Do we dare confront him for abandoning us in our times of greatest need? Do we dare give voice to the feeling that he did not show up, even when we cried out to him in our fear and despair? Do we dare challenge God for not doing things we know he is supposed to do as one who protects, defends, and upholds the weak?” These questions prompt a bigger question that the church must address, especially in dark times such as these—does the Bible actually encourage believers be angry with God?

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