I recently had an epic fail. Even though my wife’s best friend is a professional hair dresser and would gladly come cut my hair in my home, I cut my own because, as my wife says, I’m cheap. This had never caused an issue before, but alas, all good things must come to an end.
I cut my hair in front of the mirror so I can get a good look at what I’m doing. As I was cutting, I lifted the clippers up toward the top of my head, and for a brief moment the clippers disappeared behind my arm. Apparently during this brief moment in my blind spot, the guard silently fell off…like a stealth ninja hair guard. I then pressed the clippers to the top of my head with no guard whatsoever, gashing a 2 inch hole into the side of my hair.
I’d like to blame this epic failure on God, but I’m not sure I can find a way to properly justify such blame. I’d like to shake my fist at him and tell him I no longer trust him. But I can’t. The truth is that the stupid ninja stealth haircut buzzer guard decided to practice its crane kick at just the wrong moment. It’s definitely the ninja guard’s fault. Not my fault. Not God’s fault. Always blame the ninjas.
But what about the other times when it’s not the ninjas’ fault? (If there ever is such a time.) What about those moments when we really, really believe God is going to do something, but he never does? What happens when we trust God for healing, but it never comes? What about the moments we believe a relationship will be mended, but it remains broken? What about when innocent children suffer and die unexpectedly—or anyone for that matter?
What do we do when we really believe God has failed?
There will undoubtedly come a time in your life when you’ll wonder if God has failed. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mature Christian, or if you’ve never even heard of Jesus, at some point you’ll doubt and question God. I’m convinced this will happen to everyone, so it’s okay. The most important question is, “How will you respond?”
I’ve had a few moments when I questioned God and his intentions. I’ve believed things would happen a certain way, and they haven’t happened. In these moments, I wonder what the heck God is doing. And when I feel this way, I always hear the same thing:
WILL YOU TRUST ME ANYWAY?
God asks—no he demands—faith. Bad circumstances, unplanned events, sickness, disease, death, suffering—none of these give us an excuse to stop trusting and believing. These are our crisis moments. These are the moments that define us. These are the moments that either kill our faith or build our faith. How we respond when the doubt begins to surface will determine the depth of our faith and possibly our entire future.
So, when the boat gets rocked, when you have no clue what God is doing, when the future looks dim and uncertain, what will you do?
When you believe God has failed, can you trust him anyway?
That’s the ultimate question of faith. What’s your answer?
Keep Reading When Faith Gets Messy It’s Okay to Trust in God Words Fail, But Prayer Does Not Did God Lie To Me?
That question has never occurred to me personally. Pastorally, I need to make sure I do not respond to those in need of real answers with some trite cliché. Faith despite the seeming failure is a must. Thanks for making us think.
I think your definition of faith is awfully risky and intellectually unsound but rather based on emphasis toward emotional affect geared toward uncertainty. Your view also violates the meaning of rational faith and actually supports the notion of “blind” faith that atheists accuse us of. I challenge your definition 100%.
I definitely understand what you’re saying. But how would you define faith?
I don’t believe there is such a thing as “rational faith” when it comes to God. If you consider yourself a Christian, one implies that they believe Jesus is who He said He is and that He did what He said He did. This means things such as virgin birth, sinless life, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension. None of these things are “rational.” The Bible itself even calls it’s message “foolishness” (1 Cor. 1). Although I believe the so called facts point to Jesus’ resurrection, because I believe it truly happened, resurrection could never be the most rational or logical conclusion to ANY story, because the notion itself is completely irrational and illogical. Thus, faith in itself IS irrational and illogical. If it’s logical and rational to believe something, it doesn’t require faith to believe it–it merely requires proof. But Jesus said “blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.” Although, I believe that faith CAN at some point become logical. This occurs when you’ve acted in faith (illogically) and seen God come through miraculously so many times that, at some point, it becomes ILLOGICAL not to blindly trust Him. I have many thoughts on this topic, these are just a few. Blessings!