Is it okay to pick a fight with God? I don’t believe that would be a good idea. The problem with fighting God is that the person picking the fight never really engages with God. He blames God for wrongdoing, but he never actually discusses his grievances with the Lord, because it is simpler to just pick a fight. Fighting God always ends up with man seeking independence from him, because the Lord’s accuser blames God without expecting a reply, or if he permits the reply to come from a servant of the Lord, he rejects the explanation out of hand. God’s accusers never really look for an adequate explanation for their grievances or criticisms.
An example of this would be the satan or ‘enemy’ that we find in The Book of Job, chapters one and two. This satan is Job’s ‘enemy.’ He is not the spirit being or evil angel that many assume him to be. That creature simply doesn’t exist, or at least the Bible never speaks of God creating him, nor does it chronicle an assumed angelic rebellion. Therefore, that creature, whom we assume to be a wicked spirit, is a myth, which cannot be discovered in the Bible. Rather, he is found in other literary works, or is simply a figment of the imagination of modern man.
Returning now to the human satan, who is mentioned in the Book of Job, that satan accused God of fooling himself. He claimed that all of God’s friends can be thought of as fair-weather friends. In other words, they behave like the friends of God, because he bought them off with great blessings. They’re given large, healthy families and given great wealth, which the Lord protects from enemies, who would want to take away by force for their own. Why wouldn’t such folks want to be God’s friends? Take away his gifts/bribes, and they would rebel against him like everyone else.
When the Lord allowed Job to be destroyed, even to the point of losing his health, the satan never returned to engage the Lord again or to admit he was wrong. Critics are quick to complain or accuse, but rarely ever admit error on their own part.
Another example of fighting God would be the prophet, Jonah! The Lord commanded him to go to Nineveh and warn them of his coming judgment. However, not only did Jonah disobey God, but he went on a sea voyage in the opposite direction, from where the Lord had sent him! A storm arose, and when the sailors found out that their problems stemmed from Jonah’s rebellion, they threw him overboard (Jonah 1:7-15), and Jonah was immediately swallowed up by a great fish (Jonah 1:17). Out of the darkness of his aquatic grave Jonah repented, and the Lord had mercy upon him and saved him alive (Jonah 2:1-10).
Fighting the Lord is a fruitless endeavor. Its only result, if not repented, is rebellion and separation from God’s Presence. In Eden, Adam’s rebellion resulted in his separation from the Lord, who had to come and seek him out, once he partook of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:8-9). Moreover, although Adam admitted to his rebellion, he did so without accepting the blame for his own wrongdoing. Instead, he blamed his wife and ultimately the Lord for his sin. Therefore, the Lord had no choice but to expel him from his Presence (Genesis 3:22-23).[1]
Finally, and not so obvious, was Job’s attitude toward the Lord prior to his great trial. He tells us, “For the thing, which I greatly feared, is come upon me, and that, which I was afraid of, is come unto me” (Job 3:25). In other words, even while Job enjoyed all his blessings from the Lord, he waited for it all to end, unexpectedly and without his ability to keep it from happening. The picture I receive here, is that Job served the Lord to the best of his ability, but he had reason to believe, perhaps from the example of other righteous folks he knew, that his service might not be acceptable.
Job wondered, if all he did was enough. In other words, Job wasn’t really free. He was wealthy beyond expectation, but he was afraid of losing everything, because his service might not be acceptable. In other words, Job was fighting with the Lord in his heart. He presumed, what wasn’t specifically said, vis-à-vis that the Lord might be an unreasonable task master, who would one day take away everything that Job was given, and his service would be for nothing! In the end, he would be considered unacceptable to the Lord. It may be, that it was this very thought in Job’s heart, that the Lord wished to address, and, therefore, addressed Job’s satan in the early chapters of the Book of Job, drawing out of him the wager, which the Lord answered by causing the things to occur to Job that we read about in chapters one and two.
It is fruitless to fight God. It leads nowhere, except separation from him, if we continue to do so without repenting. Both Job and Jonah repented, but had they not done so, they would not have continued in a relationship with God. Expelled from his Presence, they would, no doubt, have gone the way of the critic, the agnostic and perhaps the atheist.
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[1] Everyday sin is not rebellion. Adam sinned prior to his rebellion and remained in God’s Presence. Remember, Adam lied to Eve, saying she would die if she **touched** the tree. Adam, who was with her, no doubt **touched* the tree to get his wife to eat the fruit first. Once he observed she didn’t die, he also ate (Genesis 3). Thus, the **serpent** was Adam.
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