A Man Sought a Restraining Order Against God by Ps Michael Podhaczky

An Israeli newspaper has reported that,

“A Haifa resident asks the court to keep the Almighty away, claiming He is being mean to him… He argued that over a three-year period God, had exhibited a seriously negative attitude toward him, although details of just what divine mischief he had borne the brunt of were not mentioned in the report.”[1]

This may sound crazy, but this not a new idea. In 2001 there was a fictional movie called The Man Who Sued God, and there have been others who have actually tried to do this in the past. So, why would someone try to do something like this; it seems a bit extreme?

Some people get can so angry or fed up with God that they attempt the seemingly crazy; to try to stop Him doing what He is doing. It is a bit like the line in the movie Bruce Almighty, where Jim Carey yells out “Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!” If one does not know God and goes through a hard time, they can attempt anything to ease the pain. While a Christ-follower is going through a hard time, they have hope in God. This can be even if they do not understand all of the details. This can either be to try to rid them self of God, or get some answers. But guess what, it will never happen, because God is just that ever-present and all-knowing. He knows what He is trying to do in our lives, even if we don’t understand.

We can take God to task, but in the end He is God and we are the created beings. We may feel that He has been mean to us and He won’t help us to understand what is going on. However, there is a better way to deal with these issues. Our brother Job in the letter after his name gave us some sound advice.

⁹ “His wife said to him (Job), ‘Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.’ ¹⁰ But Job replied, ‘You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?’ So in all this, Job said nothing wrong” (Job 2:9-10 NLT).

Remember that Job went through suffering that was too great for words, (Job 2:13). Yet, he did not attempt to sue God, in fact, he said nothing wrong. We know that Job did not sin in this matter, because God told three of his so called friends to bring their burnt offerings so that Job would pray for them (Job, 42:8-10). Nowhere does it say that Job had sinned.

What about you - how have you handled your tough situations? Hmmm, something to stop and think about.

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[1] “The Times of Israel: Man seeks restraining order against God, May 4^th 2016.” http://www.timesofisrael.com/man-seeks-restraining-order-against-god/ (23^rd May 2016).