“Why does the Bible talk about God protecting us if God doesn’t protect us?” I’ll ask the question again, “Why does the Bible talk about God protecting us if God doesn’t protect us?”
Let’s face it— we hear time and time again in the verses of the bible that God protects those he loves. God comes to the rescue of the poor. God helps people in their distress. God hears those who cry out to him. God delivers us from our enemies. And so on. But, honestly, I have rarely seen or read about a time when God actually delivered someone from distress.
Instead, what do I hear on the news? What do I read about in the newspapers? Trapped miners, sunami victims, abused children, suicide bombings, train wrecks, genocide. And if that seems a bit removed from reality for me, all I have to do is talk to people around me. And what do I hear? Short-lived marriages, alcohol addiction, runaway children, financial distress, terminal illness just to name a few. And so I ask, and some of you do too, “Where is all this protection that the Bible talks about?”
And that raises another peripheral question: “Where are those guardian angels that we’re often told are supposed to watch over us?” Where is guardian angel of the child who is abducted or the elderly person who is assaulted? Perhaps they’re spread too thin? Maybe they’re on strike? It could be that there aren’t any guardian angels and they’re simply something we’ve created in our hope that God does watch over us!
So, we all know that bad things happen to innocent people and we still enjoy hearing stories of how Jesus rescued his disciples, healing the sick, raised the dead, expelling demons, and fed the hungry. Those stories tend to make us feel pretty good until we wonder where God is when we’re going through those things.
Look at today’s Gospel. It’s a powerful nature miracle. The disciples of Jesus are crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Jesus is sleeping— tired from the work of the day. Suddenly, a storm kicks in and the disciples’ boat is being tossed around by the wind and the waves. They are taking on water and they grow fearful. They think they are going to drown. So, what do they do? They wake Jesus up and ask him— no, they accuse him by asking, “Don’t you even care that we are going to die?” In other words, “why aren’t you doing something about this situation? Can’t you see we’re in trouble?”
Well, the first thing Jesus does is to rebuke the wind and the sea. He commands the elements of nature to “Be quiet” and “Be still.” And, amazingly, nature obeys. The winds die down and the water is calmed. Then, he turns to his disciples and asks, “Why are you afraid? Where is your faith?” This leaves the disciples asking each other, “Who is this guy?”
Now, every single one of us knows what it is like to be tossed around by the storms of life. Something bad happens to a family member. We receive terrible news from a friend. We are confronted by a personal health problem. Something tragic occurs to a neighbor. There are times when we really feel as if we are drowning. We can hardly keep our heads above water, it seems. And where is God then? And, when we’re in the midst of those storms we say to God, “Where are you now? Can’t you see that I’m in need? Don’t you care that all this bad stuff is going on?” If you’ve never asked that question of the Lord or have never thought about asking that question, then I might wonder about your honesty.
Well, I want to pose some possible answers to the question: “Where is God’s protection when we need it most?”
The first possible answer is what some people believe nowadays. They believe that bad things happen because God is not actively involved in the world. God is the absentee landlord. Yes, God created the world and all its parts but has since stepped back and simply let things unfold as they may. I don’t buy this answer. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing and you probably wouldn’t be here either. In the end, we all believe that God is active in the world and is, in fact, sustaining the world in some fashion.
The second possible answer is that God is limited in what God can do. Some believe that God is in this age old battle with the forces of evil and, most times, evil seems to have the upper hand. Again, I don’t buy this scenario either. If God is limited by evil or even in a “struggle” with evil, then God is not God. God is all powerful, almighty and can eliminate evil forever if so wished. If anything, God seems to allow evil to impact us while we are alive in this world.
Another possible answer is that God is putting us to the test. God devises these challenges to test our faith or to make us grow in some way. I don’t accept that answer. If God puts us to the test by giving us a disease or taking a child from us, then that is not a God I want to believe in.
The probable answer is that God’s protection doesn’t prevent bad things from happening to us. God is not some kind of bodyguard who protects us from experiencing bad things. In other words, God’s protection may not simply be geared towards making our lives happy and peaceful. God is not the answer man for all of life’s troubles. It is not God’s job description to insulate us from evil.
I believe that this is where the answer lies. God does not protect us according to the way we think we should be protected. I want God to protect me from getting cancer someday. But I don’t think that’s what God’s protection is really about. Some of you want God to protect your children from failing in life but God’s protection is not about that. We all want God to protect us from natural disasters or terrorist attacks but that is not the kind of protection God is offering.
So, then, what is the protection that God gives? God protects us from things that are far worse than natural disasters, personal illness, crime or hunger. God protects us from hopelessness, meaninglessness, and eternal nothingness. God’s protection affords us some kind of hope even in the midst of our trials. God’s protection gives us insight into some meaning behind the tragedies we face. God’s protection assures us that, even though the world may pass away, his love and mercy will never pass. God’s protection promises us life even if we die.
Part of the problem we have is that when we are confronted by bad things and when we find ourselves in the middle of the chaos and confusion, we fail to ask the bigger questions like “why is this happening or what does it mean?” Instead, our immediate thoughts are limited to the fact that something bad has occurred. In times of trial, we, like the disciples can only focus on things outside the boat instead of remembering who’s in the boat with us. We become preoccupied with and anxious about losing control instead of reflecting on how God is still in control. We may react by blaming God instead of realizing that God might be assigning responsibility for the world’s problems to our own poor decision-making. Our first reaction is to become fearful; when our first reaction should be to trust God. That is why Jesus asks his disciples, “Why are you afraid? Where is your faith?” After all, he was right there in the boat with them through it all.
I know that this is not much of an answer to the question: “Where is God’s protection when we need it most?” Well, in the end, we may not have a real answer other than to do our best to trust that God knows what is going on in our lives; in our world; and that God has a way of molding life’s events in order to serve a purpose for us some day. After all, Jesus asked the same question while he was on the cross in pain and agony: “Where are you? Why have you abandoned me?” In the end, all he could do was to trust in God’s wisdom and say, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Perhaps we need to learn to do the same. Our questions about God; our misgivings about God’s fairness, goodness or justice need to be put in perspective— that is— in God’s perspective.