Steve Johnson's Dropped Pass Is God's Fault???

I was kind of watching the Bills and Steelers game yesterday when I saw the Bills almost win in overtime. They lost for a lot of reasons, but they could have won if Steve Johnson had caught the perfect pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick in the end zone. But, he dropped it. Here's the clip:

I mean just plain dropped it. The pass couldn't have been any better. After the game that his team lost he took it really personally. I don't blame him for that part. As a former quasi-athlete who missed his share of free throws and base hits you take those things personally. Its part of the competition. After the game he was tearful during his press conference and very emotional. Apparently he was still emotion when he Tweeted this:

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME !!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

Here's the link to an article with a further description.

So the bottom line is that he blamed God for dropping the pass. Several people have blogged about this today and I get their responses. Here's a good one by Andy Darnell. I understand that the man was really upset. I get it. However, when we are pressed into difficult situations our character and theology begin to show their true colors. I don't mean that we scroll through our giant Systematic Theology books to find out how we should react. I mean that the things we really believe about God (our true theology) come out when we are pressed. In this case Steve Johnson appears to believe that because he praises God "24/7" that God owes him something - like the ability to catch a football. Now, that may be reading into a tweet a little too much. But, I think that more people than not really believe that if we live a good life and show God some props, then nothing bad should happen to us.

There's a problem with that. See, I was reading this book the other day. On page 1201 it says about those who have great faith in God "through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." However, there were also some who "were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised..."

God doesn't owe us. He gave us Jesus out of mercy and grace. If we really got what we deserved it would be a little worse than dropping a ball and suffering a little embarrassment. So, sometimes having faith and praising God doesn't meant that you'll always catch a ball to win a game and be a hero and get millions of dollars to play a game. Sometimes it means that you get sawn in two.