Faith

This past weekend I heard of a lady who was pregnant and the doctor had given the baby only a remote possibility of living. She decided not to set up a nursery and many of her friends began to ridicule her by saying she lacked “faith.”

Obviously as a Christian, I believe it is within the power of God to heal a child inside the mother’s womb. I believe He not only can provide that healing, but does on occasions provide it, often in supernatural ways. I also do not think it is wrong to pray for the healing or that a baby be born healthy and “normal.” It is every parent’s desire to have children with normal minds and bodies.

But if God does not choose to provide the healing is it because someone doesn’t have “enough faith?” I believe this is just a cop-out answer at best and bad theology at worst. If a child is born with Down’s Syndrome or some other defect will the parents love that child any less than if that child had been born “normal.” I believe the answer is a resounding NO!! My own son has some health issues that we have had to “deal with” but I love him no less because of it. In many ways he is even more special to me because of his struggles.

Telling someone that the bad circumstances in their lives are caused by not having “enough faith” is an act of cruelty. Yes we bring much pain on ourselves. I’m the poster boy for that. But it has been ordained for us to suffer. Look at Job. He stood righteous before God and He was made to suffer. Nowhere in that fine Old Testament book is it said that Job didn’t have enough faith. In fact the opposite seems to be the case.

Expecting God to make the things the way we want them is not true faith. Of course we all want lives without heartache, without sickness, without hurt, and without suffering. That’s just our nature. But expecting God to make our path easy is not in line with what He has revealed in His word. That mentality strips God of His sovereignty and makes him little more than a Santa Claus. It is selfish. It is destructive and it is heresy. If anything, He has told us we will suffer and to count it all joy.

So what is faith. Well faith (at the risk of being overly simplistic) is believing that God is  sovereign and that He will accomplish the purpose of His will. Faith is knowing that we may not always understand His purposes and His methods, but that ultimately all things will work together for good for those who believe (in Christ) are called according to His purpose. Faith is the belief, like the old hymn goes that whatever befalls me, it is well with my soul.