Working Out Our Faith
Sang Won Sur
I know what many of you may be saying (especially those of you that
are religious) -- how could you doubt God? You talk about God, you
talk about trying to live according to God's Word, heck, you even
preached about God in the past.
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I'm writing this to hopefully give to some of you that haven't come to
know Jesus some perspective.
I just finished reading a book titled "Disappointment with God" by
Phillip Yancey. In this book he tries to approach "unfair" situations
such as parents who are truly devout, loves God, but has a
miscarriage, or their children die when really young. If God was
really there, wouldn't he have saved the children of those that love
Him? (You have to read this book yourself to find out what he says --
since i'm done with it, I'll give it to anyone willing to read it)
As I was reading, I thought there were few paragraphs that many of you
may be able to relate to (especially those of you that are confused or
unsure about God). In the attached file, check out the paragraphs
under the "The Skeptics View." The author talks about trying to
rationalize everything out -- saying that things happened due to
chance and through reasons other than God -- and they all make sense
(maybe God's not real then!). This God loving Christian then says the
following:
"in honesty I must admit that even now, after two decades of rich and
rewarding faith, I am vulnerable to Richard’s kind of doubt." (<--
Richard was another Christian who began to doubt God).
Are we allowed to doubt God?
For one thing, even the most prominent Bible heroes also doubted God
when times got rough (see John 11:1-2 and 1Kings 19:3-5 as examples -
John the Baptist and Elijah respectively).
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This goes back to the point that we cannot prove God. Yancey made some
really good points that got me to think -- Scriptures talk about those
that got to hear God's voice directly, and even saw miracles of Jesus
-- but their hearts were hardened and kept asking for more proof. So,
even if we had ways to prove God and His love for us, we would still
be selfish and desire things to meet our end goals. (for example, God
spoke to the Israelites -- directly to Moses, while leading everyone
by the cloud, but the Israelites ended up making a Golden Calf and was
still longing to be back in slavery in Egypt).
So, I think this is where we all end up -- we have to work out our
faith (both of us that believe and do-not-yet believe in Jesus). I
know there are dry times, especially times that feel like the desert
(where it feels dry, the wind and everything else is blowing against
you, you feel like a victim getting pummeled by everyone) -- even at
these times, is God still real to you? Do you still believe He's there
and He cares for you?
Even the strongest of Christians will have doubts . . . so if you're
unsure about God, that's ok. He will show Himself to you and let you
experience His great love for us. But I encourgage you -- be open, and
ask God to show you His love and care for you and your life. When He
does, be sure to keep the experience deep in your heart that you may
not forget.
For those of you that have experienced the love of God and are
beginning to doubt -- is it not your rational mind or the way you
interpret your life's circumstances that causes you to doubt? But it's
ok -- just go back to Him and ask Him to prove His love for you. (If
you're struggling here and would like some conversations on this, let
me know).
Any of you feeling disappointed with God, I encourage you to get this
book off my hands for your eyes and heart.
Hang in there, any of you that are struggling with life. God does have
everything in control -- believe it.
-Sang
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.