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If we are honest with ourselves, as believers, we have many misconceptions about God’s character. These misconceptions are the sand upon which we build our faith and influence how we engage with God.
On my Christian walk, there have been many misunderstandings about God’s character that I’ve developed through trauma and disappointments. These misunderstandings could be about God’s love, justice, or presence. When we look at our trauma from a physical lens versus a spiritual lens, it often causes us to question where God was, which breeds a perspective about his character. We usually blurt phrases like, “Well, if God were (blank), then this wouldn’t have happened.” We hold God responsible for what others have done to us due to their sin, making serving, loving, and doing life with God more difficult. For the reasons above, I want to challenge some common misunderstandings about God that you may hold. In debunking these misunderstandings, I hope you seek God and His truth.
God will give you what your heart desires
A misunderstood scripture is Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Many people believe that God satisfies our longing for everything our hearts desire. Many Christians believe that if you desire something, God will give it to you, but this is not a proper interpretation of this text. We must correctly understand what God is saying in His word because a misunderstanding of scripture leads to a misunderstanding of God that can lead to disappointment.
This scripture means that because God is sovereign, when we take joy in Him, He plants His desires in our hearts, leading us to want what He wants, and as a result, He fulfills those desires. Why does it work like this? Because of our sinful nature, our hearts are wicked; we find this illustration in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Think about some of the things you’ve desired, some of those desires you may not want to vocalize openly. God cannot give us everything we desire because some desires do not benefit us. We must trust that God’s plans are best and that what He places in our hearts or for our best will be edifying and beneficial. Trusting in God’s plans can bring a sense of security and peace, knowing He is in control and working for our good.
The Lord is withholding something good from you
If we return to the creation story in Genesis, we meet Adam and Eve, God’s first creation. We can learn a lot about humanity by studying the creation story in depth. For those unfamiliar with the story of Adam and Eve, God restricted both Adam and Eve from eating a particular tree in the middle of the garden. God set boundaries with man. He provided everything they would need so that there was no need for them to want anything apart from what he’d already provided.
In a few verses from God’s command to Adam and Eve to not partake of the Tree of Life, the serpent enters the garden and deceives Eve into eating the fruit by saying: “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The serpent’s deception into Eve’s heart was about the nature of God. The serpent attempted to allude to the thought that God had something that he was withholding from Eve, the knowledge that if they ate from the Tree, they would gain insight and be like God.
When we think about our own lives and how the enemy deceives us now, it is often based on a lie that he wants us to believe about ourselves or God. If we believe that God is withholding something from us, we may attempt to fall out of God’s will for us or, furthermore, resent God. When we look at what others have, compare it to what we have, and begin to believe we are lacking, it’s as if we are saying that what God has provided is insufficient. Do not be deceived. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless, is our assurance that God doesn’t withhold good things from us. We must trust that if God has not opened the door or allowed something to happen, that thing is not for our good. Understanding this nature of God matures us as believers and assures us to delight in God.
God is absent
I wanted to touch on this thought because this lens often develops from trauma. Many of you reading this may have some traumatic experiences that left you wondering, “Where was God?” or “If God is good, why did He allow this to happen to me?.” I understand how valid and accurate that perspective is. However, can I challenge this by re-evaluating something you may not have thought much about? Your trauma is not a cause of God’s absence but rather the cause of man’s sin.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of humanity due to the fall in Genesis, people are evil, selfish, and sometimes self-governing. We live in a world that is filled with people who make their own choices and don’t consider God. Because of this reality, there are things that you’ve experienced that God never desired for you. In exercising free will, some have chosen to use that to cause what may feel like irreversible harm. But God’s plan is not thwarted by human choices. He can use even the worst situations for our good and His glory.
Today, the Lord wants you to know that He does not wish to make misconceptions about His character part of your story. The beauty in it all is that when a man hurts us or lets us down, we have a God who is very near to us. Will you lay the weight of your trauma down today, ask God to show you his true nature, and grab the hand of God stretched out to you today?
Sade Solomon is a NYC-based social media personality and multi-hyphenate creator who boldly and fashionably ignites authentic and candid conversations on topics surrounding intercourse, singleness, and abstinence. After embarking on her journey of abstinence in 2013, Sade began openly sharing her life-changing commitment on various online platforms while enlightening and inspiring many through her journey. In her book, Ready, Set, Wait, Sade peels back the layers of truth about navigating singleness and abstinence as a single Christian woman. Her work and commentary have been featured by Good Morning America, Harper’s Bazaar, Essence, Black Love, and XO Necole.
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