Why Does God Hate Me?

"Why does God hate me? Why do I feel like everyone else is getting something from God and I'm just left out here to dry? All my friends who say they know God and are "saved" seem to have it all together, but I don't even understand where they are coming from. I mean, how can this big, shapeless, faceless thing known as "God" show me, a living breathing person, that He loves me? I don't get it!" Well, believe it or not, you're not the only one who feels this. In fact, one of the people in this world who was supposed to be closest to God, His actual Son, asked a similar question when He was hanging from a tree, dying. He cried out into the Jerusalem air, "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46 KJV). Even Jesus, God's very Son, wondered where in the world God was! If that isn't enough, several of the writers of the Bible suffered from depression and anxiety, wondering why they couldn't feel what other people were feeling. Take Paul for example. Paul, who was once known as Saul, actually killed Christians back in his day. He must have really thought God hated him. But even after he began having a real relationship with God, proving that God didn't hate him, there were times when God felt a million miles away from him, too. Paul describes this feeling in his letter to his friends in Corinth: "It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us." (1 Corinthians 1:8-10 MSG). So even world-famous Paul felt like God had turned His back. Jesus asked it. . . Paul asked it. . . and now you, too, are asking where in the world God is and why He seems to hate you! So you're not alone! I'll even be so bold as to say that if more Christians were honest with you, even some of your friends, they would say that they've had times of doubt in their lives. David, the guy who wrote Psalms, goes on and on in many places with things like "Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1). And David even had people all around him, telling him that God hated him and wouldn't help him out. In Psalms 3:2, the people in his life said, "God will not deliver him." So not only did David feel like God had deserted him, but even his friends were in agreement. You're probably thinking right now, "Then there is no hope! God really does hate me." But wait! There's more! Remember Paul, who talked about how terrible life had become for him? Well, in the very next sentence, he said, "As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally -- not a bad idea since He's the God who raises the dead! And He did it, rescued us from certain doom. And He'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing" (2 Corinthians 1:9-10 MSG). And David; he couldn't stop going on in the later chapters of Psalms about how much God had provided for him. "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer" (Psalm 18:2). And who can forget perhaps the most well-known story of the Bible? Even Jesus, who on Friday was asking where God was, was resurrected from the grave on Sunday, just three short days later! We all go through times in our lives where we think God hates us, or at the very least, must have had enough of us. But I'm here to tell you that what you're feeling, it's just that: a feeling! It will go away, like a stomach ache or the flu. God made a promise to us thousands of years ago, and to solidify it, He wrote it in a book that hasn't changed since day one. The promise He made is simple: "Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing -- nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable -- absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us" (Romans 8:35; 37-39 MSG). There's no way that God hates you, because He told everyone on earth then and everyone who would ever be born that nothing. . .absolutely NOTHING could take God's love away, not even the worst thing imaginable! So you ask "why does God hate me?" And I have an answer for you: He doesn't. If you want to really know what it means to be loved by God, and I mean really know it, it couldn't be easier. No friend, boyfriend, wife, or mother will ever make you feel the way God can with just His love for you. And the way to obtain is simple! All you have to do is ask!