Technically God doesn’t need us to defend Him. That doesn’t mean that apologetics – the explanation of what we believe and why we believe it – is wrong, it just means that God isn’t helpless. If He was helpless, how could He be God, and why would we believe in or even know about Him at all? Two of the main things we know about God are that He’s all-powerful and He’s all-knowing.
But let’s talk about the difference between apologetics and simply taking God’s side without thought. While God is completely good, righteous, and loving, sometimes we believers can get so caught up in how God is always right that we jump to the wrong conclusion. We’re sure we know what we’re talking about, but we really don’t. We think we’re explaining God’s motives, but we’re really saying meaningless phrases that explain nothing. This happened over and over in the book of Job, when Job’s friends were “encouraging” him by telling him all the things they knew about God and how the world works, concluding that Job must be hiding some secret wickedness, otherwise God would never have let so many bad things happen to him. In Job 13, Job calls his friends out on this, asking them if they would speak wickedly and deceitfully for God, and telling them that God will reprove them for showing partiality in their judgment.
While God does want us to have faith in Him, He doesn’t want us doing it without using our brains, and He certainly doesn’t want us lying about Him over it. Faith and brain usage go hand in hand. God has given us plenty of evidence to see who He is and what He can do, otherwise we would never have found out about Him in the first place. We can see His power and creativity in creation, we can see His emotions and thoughts in the Bible, and we can relate to Him personally when we believe in Him and develop a relationship with Him. We can have faith and knowledge at the same time. We can even admit when we don’t know what’s going on or why it’s going on. Sometimes we just have to wait and see what God’s defense or answer is.
Related:
Understanding God
The Infinite Nature of God
If God Is Good, Then Why Is There Evil?
A Few Things from Job
When You Don’t Know the Plan
Sometimes You Don’t Know