Fourth Pathway – Painstakingly Acquiring Faith
Beyond extolling the spiritual virtues
of embracing pain, defusing anger, accepting life’s daily and hard realities
and sincerely offering forgiveness, the previous sketches of human
relationships demonstrates the often-painstaking means by which most people
acquire genuine faith. An author posits,
“The spiritual life is not a theory.”
Faith emerges through direct experience.
Usually and inexplicably, these encounters often are rather
difficult. Well-reasoned analyses and
meticulously polished hypotheses are powerless to yield practically applicable
faith. Effective faith empowers a
disciple to respond proactively to new challenges, unforeseen tragedies and
daily mysteries. Anyone living through
such occurrences obtains experiential lenses of faith. Pragmatically, disciples develop in faith as
they encounter God in painstaking events.
Rather than within an ornate seminar classroom sitting at an oak table
in the hallowed halls of academe or listening intently during an interesting
Sunday School lesson in a multibillion-dollar church edifice, disciples attain
faith in least expected places.
Surviving a multicar collision on an interstate road is one site of
faith. As a fellow patient, a disciple
may impart faith to a previous unbeliever who suffers through diagnosis, major
surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.
The experiential furnace of affliction
forges genuine faith within a person’s mind, heart and soul. An unjust termination and an extended period
of unemployment creates new lenses of trust and hope in God. With amazing grace, God supplies financial
and material resources as you tediously and wearily spend hours on the Internet
completing job applications. Somehow,
each month you can pay bills on time.
You do not miss any meals though your waistline could afford to forego a
few of them. As a spouse and companion
to your beloved as he or she endures awesome anguish of a substantial health
challenge, in sober moments, you feel absolute peace and gratitude. As months and years elapse, you are profoundly
thankful for your maturity that enables you to love faithfully and
responsibly. Character forms during
adversity and other difficult experiences.
It rarely emerges from reading a textbook or listening to a
lecture. Beyond affectionate words and
romantic gifts, we demonstrate our love as we willingly shoulder
responsibilities and accountability. We
love as we apply our words and principles in daily living. Our conduct in hard times inevitably grants
spouses and friends new insight about God’s love.
Once, the disciples ask Jesus to
increase their faith. He does not
respond with a flawless philosophical or theological proposition. Moreover, Jesus does not offer a pithy maxim
easily recalled with assonance or alliteration.
Instead, He leads them through a very difficult experience so that they
may see the power of Almighty God.
Similarly, to know that we truly can rely upon God, we embrace
adversarial situations and life’s spontaneous tests as pathways to genuine
faith and personal healing. I hasten to
add that I am not advocating spiritual masochism. In many religious circles, dwelling upon
redemptive pain and suffering is fashionable. Some clergypersons insist
suffering is inherent to being a Christian disciple. Lay persons in testimony services appear to
practice one-upmanship as they seek superiority in detailing their and
tribulations. This emotional
self-flagellation hardly equates with faith.
On the contrary, faith evolves as disciples discern God’s presence and
apply His guidance within daily living.
Jacob’s wrestling match with God
starkly demonstrates perplexing circumstances in which genuine faith emerges.
On the eve of his reunion with his brother, Esau, whom Jacob exploited twice,
Jacob fights with God. Jacob demands
that God blesses him. Self-centered fear
and unbridled entitlement fuel Jacob’s strength in this encounter. He panics as he realizes that only God can
protect Jacob from Esau’s lingering wrath and thirst for retribution. Jacob dreads the possibility of losing his
entire family especially Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. Notwithstanding his current wealth, Jacob
wants more! Interestingly, Jacob does
not consider his role in creating the imminent danger that awaits him.
“Without faith it is impossible to
please God. Anyone who comes to Him must
believe that He is and that He diligently rewards those persons who seek Him”
(Hebrews 11:6) That often-recited verse demands unconditional belief in Him in
exchange for His faithful blessings. A
spiritual journey rarely proceeds smoothly along a linear progression. The road is not always finely paved; it runs
through rather tough terrain. What
happens when a person feels God has forsaken him or her? If you are subject to life’s randomness, why
pray for divine favor and unmerited grace?
Is anything good that occurs in life attributable to God’s kindness,
oversight and faithfulness? God appears
incapable of surmounting trouble and evil.
He frequently permits faithful disciples to experience natural
disasters, injustice and other hurtful events.
Ironically, people pray fervently and
earnestly for His favor, guidance and help.
Sometimes, their situations worsen as they pray more diligently. In Psalm 22, the Psalter proactively asks,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
As He is dying on the cross, Jesus of Nazareth recites these same
words. Some biblical scholars posit that
Jesus recited the psalm in its entirety.
Notwithstanding that Jesus was the “Perfect God-Man,” He hung the cross
feeling utterly forsaken by His Heavenly Father who allows the
crucifixion. Honestly, many disciples
utter the same words as they inexplicably face uncertain days and
circumstances. How are they to have faith in God when He appears absent, silent
and indifferent?
Asking the foregoing questions within
most congregations yields responses reminiscent of Job’s friends. There is general condemnation for asking
these questions. Also, there is the
notion that anyone with these questions has hidden sin. Other stalwart believers begin to yell, “Just
have faith! It is not our place to
question God or meddle in His business.”
There is the question, “What is the alternative to faith?” These replies create a machine gun
dialogue. It is hard to listen to
someone who fails to listen. Should these insightful interrogatory replies fall
short in gaining submission, then Job’s friends pound someone struggling in
faith with popular church clichés. “He
doesn’t put any more on you than what He feels you can bear.” “He may not come when you want Him to but He
is always on time.” “Any setback is
setup for a comeback!” Most regrettably,
I could continue for another two pages detailing inane and sophomoric clichés
that permeate public religious discourse.
Still, wrestling with God is a bewildering reality for many Christians
of good faith.
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