No ‘Backtalk’ for God
By Jessica Brodie
Did you ever get in trouble for what my mom called “backtalk”?
Backtalk, or talking back, is when your parent says something or asks you to do something and you challenge it, either opposing it outright with your words or questioning them or their judgment.
Basically, it’s a respect issue.
I can think of little else my sister or I did as kids that bothered my mom as much as that. We didn’t do it often, but when we did—look out. She would get fiercely angry, and we would be punished (in our house, that looked like getting sent to our room with the loss of some privilege we really enjoyed, like the phone or going somewhere with our friends).
At the time, I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. Why did my mom think questioning her authority or decisions was worse than some of the things my friends did? We didn’t lie or steal or anything like that. Why was she so upset?
Now, as a mother myself, I get it completely. I also get it as a boss, as a spouse, as a human being. When somebody questions your authority or judgment and disregards your will, it’s disrespectful and diminishing. It essentially tells the other person they’re not important and you know better than them.
But if you think about it, we “backtalk” God all the time. And it’s absolutely wrong.
Yet many of us keep doing it … over and over again.
Maybe we don’t understand why this is a problem. After all, God is God—he created the universe! He can “handle” our anger and loves us in spite of our sins. He’s a loving God. Besides, the Bible has countless examples of people who railed against God, who cried out in anger or lament over their circumstances, begging God to reconsider.
But it’s one thing if you’re speaking out against genuine injustice or grieving a loss.
It’s another thing if you’re complaining and whining, voicing opposition because something doesn’t go your way (because you think you, in all your flawed, earthly wisdom, know the right way).
Frankly, the latter is usually the case.
It’s no wonder we’re confused about the difference between disrespecting God and crying out to God. We live in a society where it’s considered to be good and healthy to have an opinion, to be confident and strong minded, to stand up for yourself and speak out.
But often we err on the side of arrogance.
And when it comes to God, there’s absolutely no place for our arrogance.
So here’s my question—are we “giving God backtalk” and disrespecting him? Or are we genuinely lamenting?
Disrespect can look like a number of different things. It can look like someone who is willfully disobedient, doing whatever it is they want to do and criticizing God for the way he chooses to implement his plan. It might look like blatantly sinning (committing sins of “commission,” things we actively do).
Or it might look like committing “sins of omission,” where we know the right thing to do, such as feed and love our neighbor, but we choose not to. Maybe we think we know best, think our neighbor doesn’t really need help, or our neighbor shouldn’t be relying on other people, or our neighbor needs to get his act together and stop spending so much money on beer or drugs or shiny things.
Sometimes disrespect looks like a lack of faith. Maybe something we’ve desired for so long still hasn’t come to pass, and we’re angry at God. We think we need to take matters into our own hands to make this thing happen.
Maybe we decide to take shortcuts to achieve this thing. After all, we figure, we’ve “waited long enough.” Perhaps we assume we can get right with God later.
Maybe we grow impatient because we’re tired of waiting, or we assume it will never happen. We give up hope.
Or maybe we get mad at God because he doesn’t give us what we want, and we assume we know what we need.
All of this is disrespectful to God.
I have been reading the prophet Jeremiah in the Bible lately. If you’ve never read that book, it’s a good one. Jeremiah is warning God’s people who have strayed from him, urging him them to turn back to the Lord before disaster comes.
From today’s perspective, it’s easy to think Jeremiah’s warnings only applied to the people of those days. We judge them from such distance, asking how could they forget about God’s sovereignty? God rescued them from the Egyptians in the wilderness and parted the Red Sea to save them. How could they so easily and quickly abandon him to worship a golden calf or set up Asherah poles or sacrifice to Baal or other false gods made of stone or wood?
We forget we’re not so different from them today. They might look different from an altar to Baal or an Asherah pole or a golden calf, but we have our own false gods—money and material items, our own personal pleasures or “rights” instead of God‘s purpose, our relationships with loved ones who we set higher than the Lord himself.
Jeremiah’s warnings thousands of years ago absolutely still apply to us today.
In Jeremiah 2:13 , the Lord says, ”My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (NIV).
Consider this today: Have we forsaken the Lord, turned to other things instead of him or deliberately or even unconsciously strayed onto the wrong path, perhaps thinking we know better? Are we digging our own cisterns, doing our own thing instead of waiting for the Lord to make something happen?
Later in the chapter, the Lord mourns how far his people have strayed: “They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns” (Jeremiah 2:27-28).
Consider this today: Are we relying on rescue from “stone and wood,” from the gods of money or material possessions? Are we relying on political leaders or romantic relationships or success or anything else besides the Lord our God to save us?
Finally, God warns, “You say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned’” (Jeremiah 2:35).
Consider this today: Do we think this sort of turning away, this sort of arrogance by taking matters into our own hands, is somehow “less sinful” than other crimes against the Lord?
Ouch.
I’ve been guilty of this many times. Have you?
God cares for us more than our human parents do. He designed us and knew us before we were even knitted together in our mother’s wombs (Psalm 139:13-14).
Maybe we take issue with this, thinking a “Father knows best” mentality is a throwback from the 1950s.
It’s not. In all ways, our Father God truly does knows best.
When we rely on ourselves or other people or other things, when we heed our wishes instead of his, we’re disrespecting God.
Let’s look to the Lord for guidance. Let’s bow to him in obedience and submission.
Now and forever.
Amen.
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