BEING MISUNDERSTOOD
 
I once heard Bob Mumford, a thought-provoking Bible Teacher, declare, “The most misunderstood person in all the universe is God, the Father.” 1
 
This statement caused me to consider how misunderstood God really is: 
 
He is often blamed for natural disasters,
He is often blamed when our man-made dreams fall apart,
He is often blamed when someone loses a loved one,
He is often blamed when we are not healed or our loved ones are sick or suffering,
He is often blamed when we have an accident,
He is often blamed for miscarriages or inability to conceive.
 
If people could only see how much our heavenly Father wants to comfort, console, and encourage us in our trouble. It would melt their hearts into total awe and surrender.
 
Christians sometimes echo what the world says about Him, blaming Him for our own diseases, deaths, and disasters, allowing our own mouths to be used by the enemy to reproach the heart of God. There is even a trend these days of feeling the need to “forgive God” because someone felt offended by Him or misconstrued His lack of response to be a lack of caring. I often hear testimonies of those who were so offended at God that they left the faith or deliberately did things they knew were offensive to Him. I have never met anyone who was angry at God who later did not realize they had completely misjudged Him.
 
What is even more incredible about this is that God does little to correct this image of Himself. He never grabs people and says, “Hey, you got Me all wrong!” In His great humility, He allows people to hold these wrong opinions, allowing His name to be maligned. He continues to show us His love, even though we often despise Him for things He never did. 
 
Mumford asks a profound question: “Are you willing to embrace being misunderstood so that you might know the heart of the Father?”
 
This is also available in print at https://www.wordsmith-py.com/product-page/embracing-reproach-booklet