Good Behavior Punished, Bad Behavior Rewarded (June 8, 2003)

The following stories are true. The story of “Suzanne” is told in Greg Boyd’s book God of the Possible. “Michelle” is someone I know.

Suzanne grew up in a Christian home and served the Lord faithfully. She hoped to be a missionary and to marry a man committed to the same work. She prayed daily for whoever her future husband might be.

She went to a Christian college and met a young man who shared her burden for mission service. For three years they prayed together and went to church together. When he proposed marriage she prayed about it. They both prayed and fasted, and consulted their parents, pastor and friends. Everyone confirmed they were well-matched. They married and went to missionary school.

At the school Suzanne's husband had an affair. He "repented", she forgave him, and he went back to the affair. Over the next few years he lost his Christian convictions and his desire to serve God. He became hostile, argumentative and physically abusive. He broke her cheekbone. Then he filed for divorce and moved in with his lover, leaving Suzanne alone and pregnant.

Meanwhile, Michelle was also growing up in a Christian home, but becoming a missionary or finding a godly husband was the furthest thing from her mind. She rejected her parents' values, lied to them, did drugs, got pregnant as a teenager and quickly married the child's father. She never prayed or fasted about marrying a godly man at the center of God's will.

But today her husband is a Christian, a good man, a faithful provider and excellent father.

What should we learn from stories like these?

I know a couple things we shouldn't learn. We should not conclude that God was blindsided by the behavior of Suzanne's husband. Greg Boyd, the pastor who counseled Suzanne, explained to her that since God does not know the future, he was just as surprised by her husband's behavior as she was. (Poor Suzanne - an abuser for a husband and a heretic for a pastor!) No, God knows everything. He knew the heart of Suzanne's husband as surely as he knew the heart of Judas. Remember that Jesus hand-picked his 12 disciples, knowing beforehand that one of them was a devil (John 6:70).

Nor should we conclude that prayer is worthless. True, Suzanne did not get what she prayed for, while Michelle got a worthy man she never prayed for. But we're still commanded to pray. Obedience, regardless of result, is never worthless.

What we should conclude is, as the Bible has already told us, sometimes "Righteous men get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men get what the righteous deserve." (Ecclesiastes 8:14). This happens so often that it amazes me that some people are still surprised by it. Deal with it, Christian. We should have stopped being shocked and puzzled long ago that Suzannes and Michelles often get husbands that the other deserved.

I try to be disciplined in my preaching and counseling never to guarantee, predict, or promise earthly consequences for any behavior - good or bad. Our world is one where the only perfect Man was tortured to death, while a vain, promiscuous, God-defying creep like Bertrand Russell lived comfortably till the age of 99. Just how long will it take us to learn that there is a frequent disconnect between our behavior and result it “ought“ to have?

Here is the conclusion of the matter. Obey God because it is right to obey God. Obey without regard for the consequences. The consequences of your actions may be good or bad, pleasant or miserable, but you must never let them dictate the morality of your actions. Your moral guide is the Word of God. Do as it says and God will be pleased. In heaven you will find out just how pleased. In the meantime, do not succumb to bitterness when you do well and are mistreated (Jesus was mistreated!) - or complacency when you sin and it turns out great anyway. The pleasing results that sometimes follow sin are, at best, gracious extensions of God’s favor that give you time to repent. At worst, they are devil’s traps that lull you into thinking your sin didn’t matter.