Mike Focht 11/21/2025
It is so easy to think hard thoughts of God. The world, the flesh, and the devil all conspire to pollute His goodness on various levels and in different ways. Life, which to some level will always be tainted by the pain sin, will challenge our faith in Him. Yet what does the Scripture say? If God is for us, who can be against us?
The Word of God clearly states that God is for us. How do we know? By looking at the cross of Jesus Christ! How could God prove His love and forgiveness through anything greater? And if He has done the greater, why would He deny the lesser? We may be familiar with these truths, but still secretly think hard thoughts of God.
What do I mean by hard thoughts? I mean thinking things like God is for us in salvation, will be for me when I get to heaven, but right now He is happy allowing me to suffer. God was for me in salvation but now things are different after salvation. We begin to fear God like the servant in the parable Jesus told who imagined that his master was a harsh man.
We can believe that God is forgiving of our sins before we were saved, but when we sin after salvation, when we know better, we can start to imagine God is getting us. Punishing us. Dealing harshly with us. We can feel God gave grace in salvation but now He is giving us what we deserve. All of these types of thoughts are hard thoughts of God.
Now, there is a measure of truth in all of these thoughts. God does discipline His children. God does correct those He loves. Reward and loss are realities in heaven. Even so, none of these truths should make us imagine God is a hard God. Hard thoughts will make us think, God, I know You are real, but I didn't know You would be like this. . .
Studying other saints in their failures will help us. Moses sinned in losing his temper and misrepresenting God. He faced consequences because of his sin. Eli sinned in honoring his wicked sons more than God and also faced consequences. David sinned terribly with Bathsheba and had to submit to God’s hand of discipline. Still, none of these men accused God of being harsh.
In fact, what do we see? Despite their consequences we see God’s incredible grace! Moses is taken up to Nebo and given a spiritual vision of the land he would never enter. Eli is entrusted with the life of Samuel and given a second chance to raise a godly young man. David marries Bathsheba, and God allows their son, Solomon, to take the crown and build His temple. God is not hard. He is incredibly gracious. He is for us. He always has been and always will be. God was for us before we were saved. God remains for us after we are saved. God will be for us for all of eternity. Don’t allow Satan to tempt you into thinking hard thoughts of God.