God's Will, Our Will, Or Our Cop-Out

I admit it. I am extremely depressed about Obama taking over the presidency. More depressed than I can explain. Frustrated. Discouraged. I have avoided all talk shows and news sites today. If I heard the name "Obama" 50 years from now, it would be too soon.

I was chatting with one of my friends last night, and was expressing all this. He basically said something to the effect that God raises leaders up, and I also think he said it must be God's will - if he didn't say that, someone else did. But is it really God's will? Has He really raised up this man to be president of the USA? I don't believe that it is.

I think Christians are in a habit of just saying things are God's will when they don't turn out the way we want or expect. It has almost become a cop-out. Obama did not become president because it was God's will. He became president because too many people who profess the name of Christ decided it wasn't important where he stood on the moral issues, and swallowed everything the media said.

Obama will most likely further the gay cause, and the cause of abortion. Disagree with me if you will, but if we say it was "God's will" for him to be president, then we must assume it is God's will for more babies to be murdered if Obama signs the Freedom of Choice Act as he plans. That is is His will for same-sex marriage to be legalized, and all that would do to our country.

Was it God's will for abortion to be legalized in the first place? His will for prayer in schools to be outlawed? His will for countless children to be abused and molested?

All too many things have happened in this country because those who call themselves Christians have sat on their butts and let it happen. Too many Christians won't even take the time to vote, and too many who do, vote on their pocketbook, not on the Bible. And all the while, they quote Scriptures of how God says it will get this way, so it is all in His plan, all in His will. Baloney.

God, or God's will, gets blamed for a lot of things. People get issues with their church or school, so they claim it is "God's will" to go somewhere else, to remove their kids from that school. The young guy - or girl - doesn't want to invest in a relationship that much, and want to play the field a bit more, so it is "God's will" for them to break up. Maybe we should spend more time seeking God's will BEFORE we start to date that person, BEFORE we start to attend that church.

Claiming God's will has almost become a way of doing what we really want to do, but to look better, we claim it is God's will. I wonder how much time is really spent coming to the decision that something is God's will.

There is a term called "The butterfly effect". In simple terms, it is the belief that a small change can have enormous variations, kind of like the ripple effect. We have no idea what effect will be the result of changes we make so lightly. By taking your kid out of the holiness Christian School and putting your kids elsewhere, your kid could lose some influence he needed. By dating that person, you could wreck your life. By attending the secular university instead of Christian, you might lose your way. And there is a place for some of those things, depends on the people and situations, but it does make me wonder just how much, and how strongly God's will is sought anymore. Do we already have our minds made up before we even pray for God's will?

Praying God's will can be taken too far. It really isn't going to make a difference to God if I wear green or blue today, or if I have spaghetti for supper, or have chicken casserole, but I believe we are leaving too much out of the equation, assuming we know what is best, that we know God's will without asking Him for it.

In the Old Testament, Israel wanted a king, and badly. Finally, God let them have one, but let them know that it wasn't His will. Could it be that when we pray for God's will in a situation, that God sees how badly we want to do it, so He steps aside and lets us claim it as His will?

This may sound totally far out, but I have to even wonder if every disease, every handicapped child, every barren couple, is God's will. Could it not just be the way things turn out, the results of Adam and Eve's sin? Just because a baby is born with Downs Syndrome, does it mean it was God's will? Was it God's will for Joni Eareckson Tada to become paralyzed, or did God use her accident for good after it happened?

I find it hard to believe that everything that happens, good or bad, is God's will. Is it God's will for a young mother to be taken, leaving behind a crushed young husband with young children to raise? When these things happen, we chalk it up to God's will, and that He had a reason, and it's all in His plan. But are we sure of that? Was it really? Or was it just a result of living in this sinful, wicked world, where bad things happen to bad and good people alike? It rains on the just and unjust, and if I read the Bible right, being a Christian doesn't guarantee no grief or suffering here below.

Life isn't always going to go the way we want. Sometimes it seems like it never does, but all too often it is either because of choices we made, choices someone else made, or just life here in this sinful world. Not everything that happens is God's will, even Barrack Obama becoming president. That was our fault.