You know things have gotten bad when you feel like even God hates you. That’s where Job was. That’s how low he got. While trying to recover from all his losses, he was in such a mental and emotional hole that he actually entertained the idea that God was hating on him:

God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. -Job 16:9 (NLT)

It may sound kind of silly from where we’re sitting, but for Job it was real. In his mind God had become some kind of merciless beast inflicting unbearable pain and suffering.

But as much as it felt that way, it wasn’t true. God didn’t hate Job. Not for a moment.

When life isn’t going well, have you found that your thoughts and feelings can betray you to the extreme? Just like Job, when we are dealing with something hard, it is all too easy to feel like God is not in our corner anymore, or like He’s got in in for us.

But here’s the thing…how we view God when life hurts is one of the most important things about you and me. To be specific, when you’ve lost someone that you love to a tragedy, how do you see God in that moment? Is He the responsible party, or do you see Him as your source of hope and strength to sustain you in that loss?

Or, when you’ve been blindsided by a situation and your heart is breaking, do you see God as the perpetrator of your pain, or as the Comforter who promises to be with you in that pain?

Our perspective here is hugely important. We need someone to help us see clearly, like we need windshield wipers on a rainy day. We need Truth to set the record straight.

To be clear, God doesn’t hate people. He proved once and forever that He loves them. It was Jesus Himself who made this statement that still echoes two thousand years later:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. -John 3:16-17

If God hates anything, he hates sin. And the reason He hates sin is because sin hurts people. Sin is brutal in its manipulations and devastating in its effect. Sin kills and that’s why the God of life hates it.

Job was confused when he said God hated him. He would eventually regain clarity and realize that God was with him and for him the whole time. In fact, he was probably a little embarrassed that he ever said those things, but it was okay, God understood what was going on with Job, just like He understands what’s going on with you and me.

In case you feel like God is hating on you today, there is a Cross that proves otherwise. God doesn’t hate you. He loves you very much.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8