"...there are times in every person's life when circumstances don't add up--when God doesn't appear to make sense. This aspect of the Christian faith is not well advertised."
I'm not a real follower of James Dobson, but his book When God Doesn't Make Sense is a must read for any of you experiencing difficulties that are not easy to understand and the pieces of life simply are not fitting together. For us Christians, we grow up spiritually being told that God loves us and He has a wonderful plan for our lives.
"For some people, such as Joni Eareckson Tada, the 'wonderful plan' means life in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic. For others it means early death, poverty, or the scorn of society. For the prophet Jeremish, it meant being cast into a dark dungeon. For other Bible characters it meant execution. Even in the most terrible of circumstances, however, God's plan is wonderful because anything in harmony with His will ultimately 'works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose'(Romans 8:28).
Still, it is not difficult to understand how confusion can development at
this point, especially for the young. During the springtime of their years,when health is good and the hardships, failures, and sorrows have not yet blown through their tranquil little world, it is relatively easy to fit the pieces in place. One can honestly believe, with good evidence, that it will always be so. Such a person is extremely vulnerable to spiritual confusion if trouble strikes at that point."
I'm sure each of you can tell of your own crisis situation where you experienced great frustration with God when things seemed illogical and inconsistent with what you had been taught about Him. Then if He doesn't rescue you from your circumstances, did you find that your frustration quickly deteriorated into anger and a sense of abandonment? Boy, that 's how I felt. I was so disillusioned and my spirit...well, I felt beat up.
"Sooner or later, most of us will come to a point where it appears that God has lost control--or interest--in the affairs of people. It is only an illusion, but one with dangerous implications for spiritual and mental health. Interestingly enough, pain and suffering do not cause the greatest damage. Confusion is the factor that shreds one's faith."
When we face a crisis like this, it shakes our foundation. We feel rejected by God.
"The God whom you have loved, worshiped, and served turns out to appear silent, distant, and uncaring in the moment of greatest need."
We all know that times like these happen to the faithful...although we are seldom willing to admit it within the Christian community.
"You want desperately to trust the Father and believe in His grace and goodness. But deep inside, you're held captive by a sense of betrayal and abandonment. The Lord obviously permitted your difficulties to occur. Why didn't He prevent them--and why has He not attempted to explain or apologize for them? The inability to answer those fundamental questions has become a spiritual barrier a mile high, and you can't seem to find a way around or over it."
Dobson advises that "each of us acknowledge before the crisis occurs, if possible, that our trust in Him must be independent of our understanding. There's nothing wrong with trying to understand, but we must not lean on our ability to comprehend. Sooner or later our intellect will pose questions we cannot possibly answer. At that point, we would be wise to remember His words,
'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts' (Isaiah 55:9).
And, our reply should be, 'Not my will, but yours be done' (Luke 22:42)."
Easier said than done when you're in the middle of it...but well given advice.
