In a group meeting we were discussing the negative features of a recent experience. One member blurted out, “It was a God thing!” When reminded of still other negative features, the self-appointed super-saint insisted, “Everything is a God thing!” I am aware of God’s sovereignty, omniscience, omnipresence, and even the fact that it can be a God thing in the midst of multiple negative features, but “everything” is not a God thing. My first question would be, why did Paul label Satan, “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) if some “things” are not Satan’s? My second question would be, why could Jesus “do no mighty work” in Nazareth (Mark 6:5) if His visit there was totally His “thing.” My third question would be what about murder (Exodus 20:13), which is clearly not one of God’s “things” (commandments). You can’t take a violation of God’s law and suddenly make it God’s “thing,” My point is, with God’s gift of free will, in order for there to be “God things,” there must also be “not God things.” That does not leave God out of “things,” but simply means, He will not violate His own gift of freedom of choice, but will allow negative features to control some experiences, making them not His thing. What we do know is that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
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