Why Do Believers Get Mad at God When Things Go Wrong?

In a way to connect with my readers, I did an Instagram poll where I invited people to share a question they had related to the Christian faith and lifestyle. A few minutes after I posted the poll, one person sent the following question: “If believers say God is all-powerful, why do they get mad at him when things go wrong?” Honestly, I did not expect a question like this one. 

After reading it three times, I started to ask myself the same question: “Why do you get mad at God when things go wrong?” Most of us have experienced a kind of resentment, anger, or discomfort with God when facing difficult moments in life. So, why do we get mad at God when things go wrong, if we believe He is all-powerful?

In this post, I will share what I believe could be the origin of our discomfort with God when things in life go wrong.

A Wonderful Trip With An Unexpected Result

Two weeks ago, my husband and I went on our summer vacation to Ocean City—a beach town in Maryland, United States of America. We enjoyed a whole week of sun. We ran every day. We went to the beach each day to bathe in the sun and dive into the ocean. We tried new restaurants. We had the best ice cream in town. All in all, we relaxed and had so much fun!

Our vacation filled us with the physical and mental energy to go back to our routine. However, two days after returning from our vacation, we ended up in the emergency room with my husband having intense chest and upper back pain. After many exams and tests, the doctor gave a diagnostic positive for COVID. After leaving the hospital, the recovery process began. We needed to change our routine in order for my husband to get better. The cooking, the cleaning, the grocery shopping, and other stuff that we do together, I was doing by myself. Oh, I forgot to tell you that two days later, I got a positive result for COVID too.

Honestly, I questioned why we had to go through this after a relaxed and fun vacation. From a moment of rest, we went on to be sick. We were ready to go back to work and resume our daily activities. But, it did not go as we expected. And, precisely when things do not go as we expected, we question, get angry, or feel uncomfortable. I believe the same thing happens to us with God.

Our Expectations and God

The life that God wants us to live is one of abundance (John 10:10). For the Christian faith, an abundant life is not free from experiencing tough moments. The message through the Bible is that we can overcome anything because we have God by our side. The problem lies when we think that becoming a follower of Christ will eliminate any type of pain, illness, discomfort, or trouble. This is a wrong expectation.

Expectations come from a place of belief. We believe that something will happen or should be a certain way, especially, the way we think they need to happen. Unfortunately, when that does not happen, we are disappointed with the results and instead of looking for options or what we can learn from adversity, we are prone to get frustrated with God, our faith, and other people.

In relation to our expectations and God, we can say there are two ways of thinking that lead us to develop negative emotions towards God when things go wrong.

1. We believe we can avoid suffering because we are followers of Christ.

   
   

We will suffer in this earthly life (John 16:33). Things that are bad, that we do not like, need, or want will happen. However, the beauty and the promise of our God is that He will comfort, guide, and help us in moments of trouble.

Take for example, the life of Job. He was devoted to God. He followed God’s commandments. He had a family, house, lands, animals, and friends. He was respected by others. He did not have any issue with anyone. He had a great life. And one day, he lost every good thing he possessed for no reason. He had hard conversations with God in order to understand the purpose of his suffering. In those conversations, Job started to see his suffering in a different way. He learned that his faith and trust in his Lord and Creator were more valuable and important than things that are finite and temporary.

2. We expect things to work the way we want them to — including God.

I believe that 99% of the time we want things to go our way. We believe that we have the right answer, idea, and suggestion and everyone should do as we say. But when the results are not the ones we expected, we get frustrated, angry, and disappointed. We even blame other people for what we are going through. In the same way, we expect God to do what we think is best. We act like He is our son or daughter. We tell Him how to behave or proceed in our lives. And if He does not do so, He will be in trouble with us.

This way of thinking leads us to doubt that God has power and authority over our lives. This is a dangerous place to be because we cannot control God. Our faith helps us to deal with and overcome difficulties. In moments of need, it would be counterproductive to distance ourselves from the source of our strength and comfort—God.

Let us begin by acknowledging that God’s ways are better than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) and expect Him to give us the solutions in moments of need. That is a 100% accurate expectation!

Final Words

I invite you to ask yourself the following: “Am I expecting God to act like I want to?” If your answer is affirmative, I encourage you to remember Isaiah 55:8-9 where the Lord says to you: 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s way will always be better.

Take a Leap of Faith

In what areas of your life have you gotten mad with God because things were not the way you expected them to be? After reflecting on that, pray the following:

Creator and Lord of my life, forgive me for the times I get mad at You. Today, I acknowledge that suffering is part of life and that I cannot avoid it. I accept that not everything will go the way I want to. In those moments, remind me that I am not alone when I face a moment of difficulty. I have You. You will take care of me. You are my strength and fortress. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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