Why Do We Make Excuses For God?

We do, you know.   We explain why He isn't doing, or isn't going to do what He said He would do.  It is because our hearts are unconvinced.  We don't believe Him.  We don't trust Him.  We are not fully persuaded.  We may not say it like that, but that's what it is.

We might be covering for people in order to ease their passage through a rough spell, or to help them feel alright about failing.  We might be covering so that God won't 'look bad'.

"Oh, I prayed for such and such, and God didn't answer!"
"Dear brother, God doesn't always do that for everyone.  He is sovereign and you never know what God might do.  His ways are higher than our ways," and of course the ever popular "If it be Thy will."  That should get God off the hook. That should do it.

Worst of all, we might be covering for ourselves.  We make excuses to prepare ourselves for failure.  In Romans 13:14 the Bible says, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."  One of the "lusts thereof" is to avoid embarrassment.  We make provision someplace in the backs of our minds because we fear the failure of God's Word and how we will look to others when it doesn't come to pass.  We consider our responsibility in how we might make God look in our own failure.  We don't want to have to explain why it 'didn't work'.

God might do it, God can do it, but will He do it?  Does He want to do it?  What if He doesn't?  We are afraid that it might not work for us.  After all we're just sinners, lowly and flawed, so we halt, and stammer, and back pedal, and become impotent as Christians.  That is a sorry walk for someone who claims to be a believer.  It is faithless, and therefore not pleasing to God.  It grieves the Holy Spirit.  We have essentially buried our talent in the earth, to quote another Scripture, and are wicked and slothful, and the Master isn't happy about it.  

To compound the problem, we have been taught in full Gospel circles to speak by faith, so we go around making ridiculous, uneducated, unsubstantiated claims in the name of Jesus, and when they don't come to pass it does little more for us than solidify our belief that God can not be trusted.  We are weak and failing, sabotaging our own walk and will try defend our indefensible position with righteous sounding words, things we've heard about God, and what feels right.   These are the traditions of men. "Know ye not that the traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect?"

Can we not just admit we don't know everything?  Can we not just admit we might be wrong?  Can't we just say "I don't understand"?  That's a great place to start because that really is the issue here.  From there we can move forward.  If we would spend as much time trying get to know God better and learning the truth and what His Word says as we do trying to explain things we don't understand and avoiding awkwardness and covering for our own fears, we might find that we are beginning to understand those things a little better.

God's word is always true.  Always.  If there is any level of discomfort on our part as to the effectiveness or reliability of the faithfulness of His Word, that should be our front line indicator that we don't know enough, and we need to learn more.  He only needs for us to be willing to carry His word.  We can only carry it in so far as we believe it to be true; if we trust His promises.  Our only job is to believe.  We must have faith in Him and be fully persuaded.  The Word will do the work.

Know the Truth.  You... know it!  The Truth will set you free.