Today is a good day,
things are fine, but there’s no guarantee it will end that way. Life is like that, one moment you’re floating
across a calm sea on a sunny day, the next you’re being battered by the winds
and the waves and just hoping to live to see tomorrow. For the disciples, that scenario literally
played out as they went across the Sea of Galilee with Jesus as their boat was
in danger of being swamped by a sudden storm.
The disciples, certain that death was imminent, awaken Jesus who rebukes
the wind and the waves and saves their lives.
As the
storm subsides, Jesus asks them, “Where is your faith?” Most preachers or commentators would then
talk about how the disciples needed to have more faith, needed to ignore the
danger and trust God. While that is
true, it doesn’t answer the difficult questions about our doubts and fears, nor
does it tell us what to do while we wait for God to calm our particular storm,
or what we should do if God chooses to let us endure through our trial, even if
it costs us our life.
We know that
God is capable of calming any storm, Jesus’ power over nature is only a glimpse
at what God can do, but we also know that God chooses, from our perspective at
least, to intervene only a minority of the time. The explanation that we’ve been given for
this discrepancy by Paul’s words in Romans 8:28-29 may partially explain some
of the difficulties that we go through in life, (that they’re part of refining
our character and helping us become Christ-like) but still leaves us with many
unanswered questions. Ultimately, the
only answer that we can obtain in this life is the answer that God gave to Job, in
essence, you’re not capable of understanding the answer to your question, you
need to trust me.
What is
the purpose of faith? It isn’t to get my
own way and protect me from all harm, nor is it to keep us from having to go
through hardships and suffering. The
purpose of faith is to allow us to continue to trust in the love of God through the dark times so that we can
hold on to the hope that God has promised those who love him.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
No comments:
Post a Comment