C.S. Lewis wrote a series of articles, later collected in a book entitled "God in the Dock," working out the idea that in previous eras individuals were "on trial" before God, and needed to justify their ways before God, but now God was on trial before men (the title refers to the British legal practice of a person on trial standing in a caged area called 'the dock').
The former orientation required emphasis on fear of the Lord, virtue, diligence, repentance, and ultimately seeking forgiveness. In the current focus people see themselves in a position of making demands of God, questioning God, and seeking for God to justify His ways before their own expectations. Lewis' book primarily addresses intellectual questions and skepticism about the Christian faith and its claims. Yet on a personal level people have seemed assured of their right to make demands of God, not infrequently feeling resentment and anger at God for not living up to their expectations.
This reminds me of the book of Romans. On one level Romans is a set of explanations defending the nature of God against the claims of skeptics who believe the gospel is unjust and a denial of what many believed God to be and what He promised. It answers "disappointment with the God of the Gospel." But at a deeper level the book of Romans subtly, yet firmly and powerfully, turns the tables and ultimately shows that it is we who are on trial before God and the truth of His Gospel. The gospel actually holds God as more righteous than we once thought and we more sinful than we once thought.
Let God be true, and let every man be (shown to be)a liar. (Romans 3:4)
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