When everything in your world falls apart, you may ask yourself whether God punishes people by causing them pain, taking away their relationships, or even taking the lives of people they loved dearly.
You’re not alone if you ask yourself, “Am I being punished for something I’ve done?” People have asked themselves that question long before ‘Job’ in the bible wondered the same thing.
It’s normal to feel like you’re suffering because of God’s punishment.
Life is full of difficult losses, terrible tragedies and long tedious stretches of boredom and feeling lost.
You are human, so you screw up, you are not perfect. You make mistakes, harm others, fail to live according to your standards, disappoint people, and let them down. This is part of being human.
It’s normal to feel sad, angry, lonely, or abandoned when you’re hurting.
It’s common to feel angry at God when you accidentally or deliberately hurt someone else, especially if you can’t remember the past without feeling guilty or ashamed.
Just because your emotions are normal doesn’t mean they’re right or that you should listen to them.
Emotions are a funny thing, although the feelings are very real, they aren’t always in line with reality. Feelings of punishment by God are real and they hurt.
However, feelings are not always the best indicators of the truth; you’re experiencing difficult losses, painful emotional states, terrible situations, depression, and loneliness because you’re a normal human in a fallen world of chaos, hurt and brutality.
God isn’t out to get you. He loves you.
Don’t Worry If You Feel Like God Punishes You, Remember This
Your feelings are normal. But they’re not always correct. You feel like God has punished you but that is just the way you feel.
God loves you and has been watching over you since before you were born. He is allowing you pain and suffering so that you may learn from it.
You’re just experiencing the consequences of living in this world.
It’s Not About You
In church, they teach you to control your own destiny by controlling thoughts, words, and actions.
That is an incorrect and false belief! Maybe if you wind the clocks back many many years…
God wanted to be involved in people’s daily life, but Jesus’s life in the New Testament wiped out God’s need to punish people for an infraction or simply being alive.
Everyone makes mistakes, fails, commits crimes, and harms others. It doesn’t mean you’re any better or worse than anyone.
We’re all good and bad, we’re all strong and weak, we’re all wise and foolish.
Wake Up To Your Thoughts And Actions
If you believe that God is punishing you for doing something wrong or bad, then remember that your actions have painful consequences.
Your body, mind and spirit are affected by both your good and bad choices, so choose wisely!
Sometimes what seems like God’s judgment is just part of being a normal person who made a bad choice, and now feels the sting from a guilty conscience.
Or maybe you’re dealing with emotional or physical issues.
Talk To God
What do you think you’re being punished for? Write down everything you’ve ever done wrong.
Mistakes, failures and flaws, crimes, sins, and weaknesses. Next, write down everything you want to say to God.
Tell God how you feel about every bad thing you’re guilty of doing. Be genuine and authentic.
You can tear up this paper or burn it when you’re finished. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.”
God wants good things to happen to you, even if your life isn’t perfect or pain-free. Life is hard.
It’s not easy. But we’re here for a reason. We’re here to learn from our mistakes and move forward.
Life is suffering. Believing in a good God or something otherworldly makes life more pleasant, even joyful and peaceful, many people adopt this belief just to make it through the day.
While it’d be normal to think God is trying to punish you for something you did wrong, it’s not really true.
Your feelings don’t change who God is. He created you and He loves You deeply.
God sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to die for our sins so we don’t have to keep the law and make the sacrifices the Jews had to do in Leviticus and Old Testament.
God has also sent the Holy Spirit to be at work on your behalf.
To Summarize
Sometimes we feel God is punishing us to teach us a lesson. Maybe it’s a mistake we’ve made over and over in our lives until something happens which makes us stop and think.
It’s this moment of self-reflection that can teach us where we need to change in order to avoid something like this happening again.
It is this mindset that teaches us to change, grow, be introspective and move forward with our lives.
Everyone makes mistakes, and bad things happen to all, but it’s the way we choose to interpret these situations that shapes us as individuals.
We can either play victim to our circumstances and get nowhere in life, or we can own the cards we are dealt, learn, grow and become stronger, more enlightened individuals.
I hope this article has helped you understand the ways in which we look at God’s punishment, and the choices we have to learn from each situation.
I have been a devout Christian since I was a little girl, so I trust my knowledge can help more people learn and perhaps even join the religion that is Christianity.
In 2011, 75% of Americans identified as Christian. However, in 2021, that number dropped to 63%. That is a 12% decrease, and that trend is likely to continue. If more people aren’t informed about Christianity, I fear that we will suffer from fewer members and we will become a forgotten religion.
My hopes for this website are for it to be a useful resource where you can get all of your supplementary knowledge on Christianity in one place. Of course, your religion leader will be able to answer most of your questions, but when they’re not available, I’m here for you.
