Chapter 25
How many times have we heard, “There but for the grace of God go I?” Often we hear that phrase when it has to do with escaping some horrible accident, escaping death, various addictions, or some type of disaster. We may hear something similar, “By God’s grace He helped me find a job” or “find a spouse,” “pay my bills,” “that my house did not get flooded during the storm,” etc., etc..
I had a co-worker who used that phrase quite often. I could not help but cringe every time she said it. Finally, one day I asked her, “What about those who were not as fortunate to experience all of this supposed grace? What about those who end up with flooded homes, those who do not have a job or loss of a child in some horrible accident?” I could see I caught her off guard and she stumbled for an answer.
I have never noticed anyone using the phrase directly at the person experiencing the horrible tragedies in their life. Could the phrase be an unintentional superior remark when others are faced with disaster, disgrace, or other calamities because of their choices or no fault of their own? Does it not imply that the person making the remark could have been in the same position but was fortunate enough to escape such adversities because God favored that person over the other? Is such an expression biblical or implied? I have yet to find it.
I think it is such a terrible saying for those who face a string of personal catastrophes while others come out unscathed because of the idea that God favored them more. It is one of the dangers of attributing an event to God’s direct involvement when it could have been from natural causes.
Another hazard of this kind of thinking is concluding that disastrous events did not happen to them because of their relationship, or supposed relationship, with God. There is one thing I do know. Jesus said that the Father makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. (Matt. 5:45)
It is not a matter of who is blessed more than the other or who is enjoying life and who is not. As someone has aptly said, “God is not rewarding the unjust with his rain, nor is he trying to frustrate the just by raining on the unjust. It is simply a testimony to God’s impartiality.”
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