Is it impossible for God to love a schizophrenic? My friend’s niece thinks so.
“God can’t love me because I’m schizophrenic, and I hear voices.”
Is she right?
This young lady has shown compassion, kindness and yes, even love toward others who struggle with the same issue.
Is she more loving and kind than God?
No. None of us are. If only she could see her statement for what it is: hard thoughts against a loving God.
What Are Hard Thoughts Against God?
“Hard thoughts against God” was a common phrase in theological works a hundred and fifty years ago. And it’s the prettiest way I know of expressing what our enemy and our flesh are constantly tempting us to do. Hard thoughts against God are:
- Thoughts that blame Him for our suffering.
- Thoughts that make our problems big and make God small.
- Thoughts that frame Him as a remote, disinterested “Higher Power” who is waiting to smack us down in a cosmic game of Whack-a-Mole.
We’re all tempted to think hard thoughts against God.
My friend’s niece is struggling with one of the most common hard thoughts:
“Sure, God loves others, but He doesn’t have what it takes to love me. I’m a hopeless case.”
Maybe you’re struggling with that thought, too.
Friend, you are not a hopeless case.
You are not beyond the possibility and reach of grace.
I know, I know… you’ve messed up. Alienated those who were once closest to you. Broken promises. Failed to keep those New Year’s resolutions. Made shameful choices you now regret. You’re still battling your love-hate relationship with sweets, self-indulgence, and all those insecurities from 7th grade.
I get it.
And so does God.
That’s why He gave His Son for us.
The Christian life is a daily battle to replace hard thoughts against God with truth from His Word. Here are three truths to keep handy for battling hard thoughts against God.
Truth #1: God loves me
Never doubt God’s love for you. It’s your enemy that plants hard thoughts against God.
Romans 5:6-8 says,
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
How would your life change if you decided, once and for all, to believe God’s Word over your feelings and over your flawed interpretation of your past and current circumstances?
Truth #2: All Things Work Together for the Good of God’s Children
Seriously. Jesus is King, ya’ll. Ain’t no reason to be stressing over the news or whatever.
Last week a friend sent me a video of some guy presenting information about a pro-vaxxer agenda involving forced vaccinations, metal bracelets, chips, and other stuff that sounded like it was straight out of 1984. At least, I think so. I only ever read the Cliff’s Notes.
Anyway, her note prefacing the video was like, “God help us! Lord Jesus come quickly!”
And hey, I did watch the video. And it is pretty frightening to see our freedoms disintegrating before our eyes.
But ya’ll need to read In Editha’s Days. [Available free on Internet Archive, or in paperback on Amazon.] It’s a well-documented historical novel about The Inquisition. (Side note: Wikipedia is sooooo off on their Inquisition page! For realsies. But I digress.)
During the inquisition, my Anabaptist forefathers were tortured and burned at the stake. They were hunted and killed for refusing to baptize their babies or accept infant baptism for church membership. Their babies were thrown into lakes and rivers to be drowned. They were driven from their homes by persecution and spent decades praying for religious liberty while enduring unspeakable atrocities simply because they “defied” the status quo by holding to the Bible instead of the Catholic or Protestant churches who were alternately in power.
I’m not happy about the prospect of forced vaccination. I’m appalled that Americans are being jailed for refusing to become wards of the State. But God has a right to arrange my life however He sees fit. And no matter what that looks like, He’s already promised to work things out for my good and His glory. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be forced to be vaccinated and end up telling a stranger about Jesus who otherwise would have never heard how much God loves them? Or maybe my husband goes to jail and leads a fellow inmate to Christ?
I can’t force our leaders to follow the Constitution. I can vote. I can fast and pray. I can take whatever actions God leads me to do. But after it’s all said and done, the battle is the Lord’s, not mine.
What scares me most isn’t the infringement of my rights as an American. What scares me is my tendency to deceive myself. My propensity to major on the minors. My habits of self-reliance, self-promotion, and self-indulgence.
And guess what? God can handle all of that AND Coronavirus, too.
How would you face all the terrifying Coronavirus news if you really believed – no matter how things play out down here (this life is a vapor, you know) – that God is still God and He cares for you?
Nothing can touch you without His permission. He can use quarantine, flawed leaders, partisan-biased news, financial loss, and even tragedy for our good and His glory.
Truth #3: God Wins
It doesn’t matter who’s in the Whitehouse. It doesn’t matter what pandemic or economic collapse is just over the horizon. Jesus is still in control, ya’ll. You can’t impeach Him and He’s not gonna resign.
I read the back of the book and we win.
This is the hope God offers those who trust Jesus’ blood for the payment of their sins. (Romans 3:23-26)
Please, for the sake of your daily joy and peace, trust Him not only for your soul’s salvation but to guide and protect you here below. Let His love bring you peace in “unprecedented times.”
God loves you! He proved it!