Is God fair? Can He be trusted? Are you disappointed with God? Does He make sense? These questions have become effective marketing tools for Christian publishers. In the past decade a considerable number of books have gained top selling attention through catchy titles calling God into question. One such book Disappointment With God, ironically offers a hundred percent money back guarantee to anyone disappointed with the book!

Thankfully, many of the books using these marketable questions (the above mentioned included) offer correctives to their own titles – helping to put things in perspective. But the ability of such titles to draw us in is disturbing. It is true of course that people who believe in God will, at one point or another, question his relation to the painful circumstance of life. In fact, God invites us to look to Him in our trials to gain wisdom, grace, and peace (James 1:5; Hebrews 4:16; Philippians 4:6-7). We are specifically told to “cast our cares on Him,” because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

However, God’s invitation is not to be handled presumptuously. The Scripture equally admonishes us to approach the Almighty with reverence and faith – “nothing doubting” (Hebrews 12:28-29; James 1:8). The ancient patriarch Job, in the midst of his suffering, directed a series of questions toward God, and received a pointed question back from God. “Who is this,” God said, “who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge.” On another occasion God said to Job, “Will the fault finder contend with the Almighty? Let him who removes God answer it.” (Job 42:1-2)

In the New Testament Book of Romans, after discussing God’s choice of some and rejection of others, the Apostle Paul plays the role of an opponent saying, “What they shall we say? Is God unjust?” The answer? “Not at all!” Then quoting the very words of God to Moses, he writes, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy…” (Romans 9:14-15). A little later in the same chapter, he confronts the opponent with a question, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

Some of the questions people ask about God come from misrepresentations of Him. Perhaps their view originated from an unbalanced presentation of God’s goodness. The so-called “prosperity” gospel also raises false hopes. Many a charlatan has manipulated people by telling them; “God always want you healthy, wealthy, and wise.” It is understandable that such a false notion could result in serious disappointment.

Scripture helps us understand the disappointments of life in relation to God. We must allow for a world God prescribed (the goodness and innocence of Eden), one He permitted (the violence and rebellion of Cain), and a world He will providentially make new (the new heavens and earth). However, to call God before our judgment seat requesting an account from Him is to invite His displeasure. There is a fine line between seeking God’s wisdom and assigning indirect blame to Him – a line we as mere creatures would do well to respect.

My grandmother on my mother’s side suffered psychiatric disorder for more than twenty years after losing her son (my uncle) during the Korean War. When she passed away and went with the Lord, I was only seven years old. Even at young age, was I more keenly aware of her suffering and the resulting difficulties. “Why God?” I remember now that I asked. “My grandma is a good woman. She loves You and tries to live a faithful life despite of losing a husband and the only son during the War. She had so much responsibility. She’s just trying to meet the needs of her only surviving daughter – my mom! You say you love us and you have the power to heal all diseases, why don’t you answer my prayers and heal her?”

These were the honest questions of a little boy’s heart. Refusing to grow bitter (which sours all of life), I struggled onward. As my understanding matured, I learned how to marvel at God’s ability to bring good out of suffering. Trials help to promote the greatest human need – day by day dependence on the living God (Matthew 4:4). From this deepened faith the creature experiences the joy of fellowship with the creator. I also grew to realize that sin, sickness, and death were not part of God’s original plan. These things came as a result of our rebellion against Him. This is not the world as God originally intended it to be, nor what it will one day be when he recreates it; a world with no sickness, sorrow, or death (Revelation 21:1-5).

Meanwhile, it is appropriate and wise to let God be God – to respond with unceasing gratitude for the smallest measure of His goodness, realizing that He is a debt to no one. The fact that God would show kindness to any is sheer mercy. Yet the truth of Scripture offers far more. In flesh and blood, deity and humanity united in the person of Jesus, bearing the just punishment of our sin on a Roman cross. Shouldn’t this one fact answer all questions? Perhaps even making them unnecessary?