Is God for Us or Against Us?

The Bible contains several stories that may cause you to question whether God is for you or against you. You might feel like one day He is on your side, and the next, He is working to thwart your success. Why would God allow Joseph’s brothers to betray him? Why would He kill Uzzah for touching the ark? Why did He kill Ananias and Sapphira for lying?

Anyone who deliberately goes against God’s purposes can’t expect to have a positive outcome. In the case of Joseph, it was his brothers who suffered because of the famine. They lived with guilt for years. Joseph suffered too, but he didn’t act against God. Uzzah directly disobeyed God’s command. Similarly, Ananias and Sapphira intentionally tried to lie to God.

In all these situations God’s purposes always prevail. Some people are examples to others for what not to do. These are exceptions for the most part. Furthermore, God’s discipline might lead to physical death but not spiritual death. The important take away is, no matter what happens, you must continue to trust God.

God isn’t a trickster. God is for us, not against us. We believers are God’s elect, chosen and justified by Him. God is on our side, working for His purposes which includes our prosperity. And furthermore, God is “kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35). God is patient and kind to us. The greatest virtue is love.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:31-35

If nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, we always have reason to hope. If you can lose your salvation, and believing you’ve lost it, how can you continue to feel hope and connection with Christ? You couldn’t.

Matt Pavlik

Christian Counselor - New Reflections Counseling

Matt Pavlik is a licensed professional clinical counselor who wants to see each individual restored to their true identity. He has more than 15 years of experience counseling individuals and couples at his Christian counseling practice, New Reflections Counseling. Matt and Georgette have been married since 1999 and live with their four children in Centerville, Ohio.

Matt’s books, , , and , contain practical exercises that help God’s truth spring to life.