(No new sermon this week.)
Proverbs 23:17 (NIV)
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners
It’s unfortunate that I need to say this, but apparently I do. Under NO circumstances does God bless sin. It doesn’t matter who the people are, or what the circumstances are, He does NOT bless sin; there are no exceptions to this… and that includes the people that YOU know.
If I had a dollar for every time that some confused, misguided person posted a comment on this blog complaining that their adulterous spouse or ex-spouse was being “blessed” in their relationship or new life with whatever equally-immoral new partner they had hooked up with, or that someone who had done large and deliberate harm was being “blessed” with the money or position that this had gotten them, I could retire TODAY.
We are NOT robots, with our every action dictated by God, and everything we get, positive or negative, coming only from God. We have free will, we use that to make choices and take actions, and those choices and actions bring us consequences, both positive and negative, with NO intervention from God. Yes, God CAN intervene if He wants to, and sometimes He does, but 99% of the time, whatever happens in your life is due to the choices that you have made with your free will, and the choices that those around you have made with THEIR free will. We should certainly err on the side of giving God the credit for good things that happen just in case He influenced them, but under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should we EVER blame the actions of evil people on God, and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should we claim that God has BLESSED evil people in response to their evildoings. If you think that God is even CAPABLE of doing such a thing, you literally have no idea of Who God is, and you need to start reading your Bible and refreshing your memory.
Here’s an example: If a bank robber steals a bunch of money from a bank, and uses that money to live a wonderful lifestyle, has God BLESSED the bank robber with that lifestyle? NO! This is a simple case of cause and effect; this person took money, and money provides the lifestyle… God had no hand in it.
In the same way, if your spouse cheats on you, with or without also leaving you, and has a happy life with their adulterous partner, has God BLESSED them with that happiness? NO! When two people who want to be together get together, happiness is the natural result… at least at first… and God had nothing to do with it.
In a similar vein, just because something goes wrong in your life does NOT mean that you are being “punished.” If someone takes something from you, your spouse, the job you wanted, your best friend, whatever, that does NOT mean that God is punishing you, or blessing them; it means that the taker used their free will and took something from you. God had nothing to do with it.
The saddest part about people who don’t understand all this is that, because they’re blaming God for things that He had nothing to do with, they are cutting off their own source of blessings! You can’t expect God to bless you when you’re blaming Him and spitting in His face. These people’s lives become steadily LESS blessed because of THEIR behavior, and then they blame God for THAT, too, and a terrible downward spiral results.
So, what should you do? The unfortunate reality is that evil behavior often brings rewards and pleasure; if it didn’t, nobody would bother to do anything evil. When someone in your life does something evil to you, you need to correctly identify that THEY are there source of the evil, that the benefits they are receiving are cause and effect with their evil actions, that any harm or suffering that you are enduring as a result is ALSO cause and effect from the evil actions, and that God had nothing to do with any of it. You need to stop focusing and dwelling on the great life the evildoers seem to be having, and yes I know how hard that can be, focus on your own life, and keep praising God and asking Him to bring both better people and better circumstances into your life… and because God controls the entire universe, He absolutely can and will bring you a better life than the people who harmed you currently seem to be enjoying. It may not be what you thought you wanted, or in the way you had expected, on your timetable, but it WILL happen!
So if someone is smart enough to do evil against someone and get away with it there are no consequences for them? I thought every sin had consequence? So God really DOESN’T intervene in this life? So there is no point of prayer…
Certainly, sin has consequences, but not necessarily right away, or the consequences YOU wanted, or even consequences that you will ever see or know about; this is one of the reasons that it’s a bad idea to focus on wrongdoers looking for signs of divine retribution… And another reason, of course, is that it demonstrates a lack of faith, which never works to your benefit.
God intervenes countless times every single day. Whether or not he intervenes in YOUR life can be influenced, in part, by your faith, your trust, your level of gratitude, and whether your attitude is positive or negative; speculating outrageous things like God not intervening is a sure way to keep blessings far from you.
How many times does the Bible talk about the power, and even necessity, of prayer? If you have any doubts about something that basic, again, you are creating a situation where you are not going to be blessed… And what would be the point of doing that?
A negative, defeatist attitude is the quickest way to an unhappy life. Improve your attitude, and your life will improve along with it.
What if the wrongdoer repeatedly does the same evil against you over and over and you are helpless against it because they are smart enough to get away with it, does God just stand by and do nothing even if you pray for him to do something about it?
What part of the world, what situation, are you in where someone can do the SAME evil against the SAME person over and over, and there are no laws or authorities that are able to stop it? And law enforcement or authorities “refusing to do anything” just means that you get a lawyer and SUE, both to get the situation fixed and to be compensated for their failure to act; what situation are you talking about where none of these options are possible?
Im dealing with a situation where the perpetrator is clever enough to hide his tracks where there is not enough proof to have him charged and the police are not willing to put in the effort to keep finding other evidence. So where is God now?
If the police are refusing to act, it’s time to contact a lawyer. There are many organizations that provide FREE legal assistance; have you tried speaking to them? Someone who is focusing on doing evil to one person can hardly be a criminal mastermind; if he is doing something over and over again, then it should be easy to catch him in the act and get photos, voice recordings, whatever is necessary.
As to where God is, He’s where He has always been; holding His arms out to you, sadly waiting for you to stop your negative attitude and behavior, and turn to Him for help; not petulant demands, but loving and humble requests made in faith. THAT is what gets you assistance and blessings, not complaining and criticism. You are your own worst enemy; STOP IT, and turn to the Lord with love; He will do the rest.
So if i ask God to bring justice to the situation, he will? How will i know he has taken care of it? We all have free will so if the perpetrator doesn’t want to stop how will god make him stop if he can’t? Will god create circumstances to make him get caught? I’m just confused about the whole free will thing vs God intervening. Just seems like a contradiction.
God will bring justice to the situation, but not necessarily within your preferred time frame, or the way you wanted Him to do it, or in such a way that you will ever find out about it. And be sure to not be praying for HARM to come to the evildoer, whether they deserve it or not; instead, pray that God will assist you and any other victims in recovering and moving forward to a better life.
You will more than likely never know when the justice has been served, or what form it takes; there is absolutely nothing in the Bible that promises us this information, and that you are eager for it shows that you are vengeful rather than forgiving… And this will block blessings from coming to you.
An evildoer can be stopped in many ways: He might go to jail. He might become seriously ill. Something big might happen in his life that takes up all of his attention, anything from his house burning down to him needing to move to a different part of the country. God has countless ways to put the pressure on free will; you don’t need to know what they are, your job is to have faith.
There is no way to know in advance whether or not this particular evildoer will get caught. He might drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow. He might find Jesus and join the Peace Corps. Again, your job is to forgive him and stay in faith, not to be eager for evidence of revenge. If you want the legal system to do something, again, get a LAWYER to force the authorities to take action based on whatever evidence it is that you have… And if this person is doing evil over and over, more evidence will be forthcoming soon, right?
Having free will does NOT mean that you can do anything you want in any way at any time without restrictions. Just because someone or something can intervene and prevent you from doing what you want, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have free will, just that you’re not omnipotent, and your exercise of free will can be prevented by outside sources. Free will just means that you have the ability to make a CHOICE, it does not in any way shape or form mean that you will be able to actually do or get what you have chosen.
If what you say is true and biblical then I guess I should feel better about the situation working out in the long run. I’ve asked for prayers from many loved ones and prayer boards online.
Thanks for your kind insight on this matter.I for sure never blame god for my very sad unlucky life.although it has always been a thought..(why me..) however I always pray to the almity father to always keep us safe from harm and never allow evil curses to touch us or toxic people who are bad.greedy lie to stay way of our daily paths. But will god punch those who intencially do harm and cheat and lie and don’t care who they hurt.what becomes of them..as I see that They get richer and happier by the day..? .I deeply ask for forgiveness for all my sins. And pray to jesus in his father’s name to please have mercy upon me. I hope I’m forgiven. I keep my head out of trouble and stay close to god in my heart..armen
I’m glad to hear that you’re not blaming God! That’s a sign of faith. However, be VERY careful what you say about yourself and your life, because the Bible warns repeatedly about the power of what we say. Don’t call your life sad and unlucky; point to the many blessings that God has given you, and express absolute confidence that He will get you to your promised land.
A young man I know whose life has been repeatedly ravaged by cancer has the perfect answer to the thought “Why me?“; “Why NOT me? The Bible says that we will suffer many trials; who am I that I should be guaranteed an easy life?“ No one who knows this young man is surprised that God saved his life, and has provided extraordinary miracles towards his recovery.
Wealthy people are notoriously unhappy people. Don’t think that because someone has a nice house, and smiles for their Facebook photos, that they are happy; you have no idea how they actually feel. Don’t focus on them, focus on yourself and your own life, and being the best you can be wherever you are.
Yes, God punishes evil, but not necessarily right away, or in the way that you wanted, or even in a way visible to you. This is something else to not focus on; God makes very clear that we are to leave vengeance to Him.
You ARE forgiven; Jesus died to make sure of that. Just keep moving forward living the kind of life God wants you to live, and trust Him to get you where you need to be.
Morning
Wow it’s really interesting, you are talking to me straight forward, I still have that situation in my life and I don’t know how to get rid of it but I know that Almighty God still on the throne working on the other side of the mountain. You really blessing me every day and may God bless and shower you & your family in many more years to come. May you please put me in your prayers for my marriage restoration.
Regards
Evah Makube
I like the last sentence that says ” but It Will Happen”,Thank You again. 🙂
God definitely blesses sin at times. If He didn’t those engaging in premarital sex would never be given the endless joy that a child brings. So either He blesses their sin or premarital sex isn’t a sin.
God is 100% able to give a baby to a woman who might not be able to have one in the natural, but most of the time babies ARE produced in the natural way. If a woman gets pregnant, it doesn’t mean that God has blessed her, it means that her reproductive organs are working properly, and she used them with a man whose reproductive organs are working properly; God had nothing to do with it. In the same way, if the woman stole the $ out of the man’s wallet afterwards, that wouldn’t mean that God blessed her with that $, it would just mean that her hands are functional, and she chose to use them a certain way. Sin CAN lead to rewards; if it didn’t, no one would ever sin. However, the rewards that we could gain for ourselves by sinning are a minuscule fraction of the rewards that God will give us if we DON’T sin, so not sinning is always the right way to go.
God had nothing to do with it???? I’m, who allowed her and her partners reproductive organs to work properly???? God!! God had EVERYTHING to do with it.
What would you expect, that God would cause the reproductive organs of everyone that is having sex other than with their spouse to not work? That would completely invalidate free will. But that’s beside the point. For God to BLESS someone, that requires that He choose to give them something that they weren’t already getting, and make it happen by supernatural means; that is NEVER the case when a child is conceived out of wedlock.
You need to stop having a negative, critical, and complaining attitude towards God; this will cause Him to withhold blessings from you.
Your article was a breath of fresh air. I’m tired of people blaming God for bad things that happen to them and saying God blessed them when they have unconfessed sin. My husband thinks God blessed him with a good job 35 years ago when he was living in sin. I don’t think God did that. His job status was improved because somebody decided to do that. Does God bless while you’re committing fornication? I don’t think so.
Excellent message! I am struggling with this today. Several close family members have children out of wedlock. I was married and did not conceive. Granted, my ex-husband made sure of that. I have some resentment toward God that sometimes resurfaces when I least expect it. Mainly when sed family members thank God for their children.
People love to give God credit or blame for things that had nothing to do with Him. I know, it’s hard. All you can do is rise above it and continue to trust Him… and that can be hard too, but if you ask for help in increasing your faith, that’s a prayer God will definitely answer!
If God doesn’t bless sin, how to you explain unmarried couples and their families being blessed with a bundle of joy???????
Although God CAN bless people with babies, His blessing is not required for pregnancy to occur; reproduction is a physical process in the body, with human beings as with other animals, and the reproductive organs of people in immoral relationships function just as well as everyone else’s reproductive organs.