Have you ever wondered if your baby would have lived, if only your faith was stronger? Or has anyone else ever suggested that to you? I wrote about that concept this month in my Glory and Strength column.
Suffering and the Hall of Faith
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Children are meaning-makers. Just listen to any preschool child chatter away – half of their conversation will be filled with “why.” Why is grass green? Why do I have to eat my dinner? Why do fish swim? They are trying to make sense of their world, and they start by asking, “Why?”
We joke about this being a trait of childhood, but as adults, we do the same thing. We want to make sense of our world – especially when something happens that doesn’t make sense. When illness, or loss, or hardship strikes, we want to know why it happened, and why it happened to us. Did I do something to cause it? Am I being punished? Could this have been prevented? Why did it happen to me, when I was following the “rules,” and not to that other person who wasn’t?
And the kicker – did I not have enough faith for God to come through for me?
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Children are meaning-makers. Just listen to any preschool child chatter away – half of their conversation will be filled with “why.” Why is grass green? Why do I have to eat my dinner? Why do fish swim? They are trying to make sense of their world, and they start by asking, “Why?”
We joke about this being a trait of childhood, but as adults, we do the same thing. We want to make sense of our world – especially when something happens that doesn’t make sense. When illness, or loss, or hardship strikes, we want to know why it happened, and why it happened to us. Did I do something to cause it? Am I being punished? Could this have been prevented? Why did it happen to me, when I was following the “rules,” and not to that other person who wasn’t?
And the kicker – did I not have enough faith for God to come through for me?
Read the rest at Glory and Strength's "Words of Strength" column.
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