Historical Creeds and the Task of Defining a Christian

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

With these words our church fathers launched into the brief synopsis of the Christian faith commonly known as the Nicene Creed. What does it mean to be Christian? Who is God and what makes Him different from all objects of worship? Early statements of faith were crafted in response to false teachings tearing apart the church: The Nicene Creed, and Apostles Creed, and the Athanasian Creed much later. They were meant to protect lay believers and theologians alike by giving clear boundaries of belief. Those who claimed to be Christians but believed outside the line of the creeds were condemned as heretics.

Some of us cringe when we hear that. We don’t want to think of Christianity as a group that kicked people out for not believing the right things. The church today already bears the stigma of being narrow minded, contentious, and unloving.

In December, a post titled The Continued Crucifying of Rob Bell, And What it Says About the State of Modern Christianity made the rounds in the viral spotlight. In it, the author wonders why the Christian world turned so quickly on one of its rock stars for not sticking to the script. In his view, Rob Bell started asking tough questions and got eaten up by conservative sharks in the name of orthodoxy. Thousands of comments on multiple sites show that he isn’t alone in this perspective.

Another internet article caught my eye recently, this one from The Daily Beast. Writer Ann Marie Cox discusses the obstacles which- until the publication of this piece- held her back from publicly coming out as a Christian. “I’m nervous to come out as a Christian because I worry I’m not good enough of one. I’m not scared that non-believers will make me feel an outcast. I’m scared that Christians will.”Why is it that believers, especially public figures, feel the need to prove their faith before a tribunal of their peers?

How do we know who is truly one of us? Lecrae? Kendrick Lamar? Shia Labeouf? Bono? Justin Bieber? Preachers of LA? I sometimes wonder if someday I’ll have to defend my salvation to believers in the public space. I’m mostly conservative and orthodox in my beliefs, but I believe in evolution (gasp!) and have no problem with the state recognizing gay marriage (double gasp!).

Part of the problem is that Christianity is usually defined according to opposite priorities. On one hand, Western Christianity has really grabbed hold of the idea of personal salvation. Do you accept Jesus Christ into your heart as personal Lord and Saviour? Religion is viewed as an individual experience: Jesus and I. In this view we lose the right to judge anybody else’s faith (Matthew 7:1-5, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5). As much as I may question a person’s actions, I truly don’t know what’s in their heart.

But on the other hand, Christianity is a historical and concrete identity. To be Christian is not just to be saved but to become identified with the Church. We are a family and so we share a common name. The actions of its members reflect on each other. Communal correction and discipleship are commanded both by Jesus (Matthew 18:15-18) and Paul (1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Galatians 6:1-2) and other scripture writers (James 5:19-20, 1 Peter 5:1-5) . False teachers are to be identified, exposed, and excluded (Matthew 7:15-16, 2 Timothy 3:1-7, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 2 John 1:7-11), lest they lead the church astray.

So, which is it? Is it personal or corporate? Are we each responsible for ourselves or for each other? Yes. Losing sight of either aspect is dangerous for the church. I’ve ministered in contexts where the corporate element of Christianity is elevated to the exclusion of the personal. Personal responsibility for growth is relinquished and believers become dependent on their participation in the community for their salvation. ‘We are Christian’ replaces ‘I am Christian’.

But the reverse is also dangerous. Personal salvation without accountability to the universal church is also dangerous. We are left to define salvation according to our whims and what we’re left with can be far removed from the faith passed down to us from Christ through the apostles (see Ephesians 2:19-22).

So how can we know who is truly one of us? I propose we go back to the ancient creeds for a starting point. Can I affirm my belief in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit- together worshipped and glorified? Do I believe in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus for my salvation? And am I committed to one church, one baptism, and resurrection into eternal life? That the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets?

Why the creeds? One would argue that scripture should be enough- and it is. However, people of very different theological convictions claim the Bible as their source. We are argue for proper interpretation, but are we so confident in our convictions on certain issues as to excommunicate others who claim the name of Christ? We would do well to defer to church history in determining the core tenets of belief necessary for salvation. I don’t claim that any creed is infallible or capable of replacing regular meditation on God’s Word in the Bible. But those who came before us studied, convened, debated, and risked much to define essential beliefs of our faith. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The confessional structure of the Nicene and Apostles Creeds have implications for both the personal and community. ‘I believe’ is not merely a statement of intellectual agreement, but of faith. I may not be able to explain or defend, but I believe. Anselm of Canterbury is famously quoted as saying, “Credo ut intelligam”: I believe so that I may understand.

But we don’t believe alone. When I was in Uganda, I attended a church whose service included an element of group confession. Every week, we would read through a statement of faith or doctrine together. Reading aloud in the congregation was initially strange, but also very unifying. No matter what had happened during the week or what doubts I may be struggling through, every Sunday I received assurance that others were with me on the journey of faith. We affirmed not only our commitment to our faith, but also to those who believed with us.

I don’t think every problem in the church would be solved by creedal confession, but it would be a great start. For one, we would know what is being referred to when someone says, “I am a Christian.” The goal posts won’t be as shifty. Would this exclude some? Yes. But we already do that and it’s necessary to do so. Even Jesus said that not everyone who calls themselves Christian belong to Him. But instead of excluding based on preference, there would be an objective and historical standard.

I think knowing the early creeds would also help us extend grace to others. Nobody who claims the name of Christ reflects His righteousness perfectly. We all still sin and are on a journey towards perfection. But when our brother or sister falls, we have reason to trust that God is at work bringing them to repentance. I have friends accept certain things I consider sinful, and I do some things that other Christians consider sinful. Again though, I believe the Nicene Creed gives us boundaries within which we are free to differ.

Am I a bit of an idealist? Perhaps. Somewhere within the human heart is a desire to create God in our image. As Christians, we struggle to accept any conception of God that differs from ours. Much I desire to love, I will always find it difficult to worship with a Christian who sees Old Testament stories as mostly mythological or who accepts that gay relationships might be within God’s will or believes that all miraculous spiritual gifts ceased with the completion of the Bible. But I honestly believe that’s what God calls us to do.

I’m not talking about uncritical acceptance of all doctrine not covered by the Nicene or Apostles Creed. There is however a difference between a conversation among brothers about family values and battle between warring factions for the family crown. How do we know who is truly one of us? Let’s start with answers from history.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

 Amen.

–  Apostles Creed

Thus Far The Lord As Helped Us

I love hymns. I didn’t grow up singing too many and for a long time, I saw them as slow, boring, and irrelevant. I much preferred the latest Hillsongs offerings with a side of Chris Tomlin. There’s nothing wrong with contemporary worship music (for the most part), but my adoration of God has been aided by an exploration of those songs handed down to us from generations past. One of my favourite hymns is ‘Come Thou Fount’, written in 1757 by Robert Robinson. It’s a beautiful reflection on God’s sanctifying grace and contains a very curious lyric in its second verse.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

If you’re like I was on my initial exposure, you will wonder what in the world is going on in this lyric. The only Ebenezer I knew was Scrooge, and he’s more synonymous with miserly conduct than exemplary Christian character. What is an Ebenezer and why does it need to be raised?

To get the reference, you need to go back to the ministry of the prophet Samuel. Let’s set up the scene. In the time of Samuel’s call to ministry as a child, the people of Israel were in a low place morally and as a result were getting crushed in battle. In an effort to force God’s hand for their victory, they brought the ark of the covenant out from the temple and into battle with them. God, not being one to be extorted, gave victory to the Philistines and allowed the ark to get captured. However, also not being one to let His enemies triumph over Him, He made the Philistines suffer in the ark’s presence until they had no choice but to return it. For twenty years after that, the ark stayed in the house of Abinadab, not the Tabernacle, and Israel continued doing whatever was right in its own eyes.

Still waiting for Ebenezer? Well this is something Samuel brings into the picture. After 20 years absence, he reappeared on the scene calling the people to repent, which they did at a big ceremony at Mizpah. The Philistines heard about a large gathering and tried to crash the party. However, unlike the last time God came in to fight for His people and gave them the victory.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” – 1 Samuel 7:12

Ebenezer means ‘stone of help’. In this scene, it represented an acknowledgment of God’s providence bringing His people thus far, and a trust in His ability to continually keep them. For the rest of Samuel’s ministry, the people did not lose any more territory to the Philistines, and even took back some land from them.

How do we commemorate God’s faithfulness to us? It’s likely that many of us don’t take the time to do so. It’s easy to see the negative in life. Pain by its very nature demands our acute attention. When life presents us with obstacles, as it frequently does, our immediate response is to study, analyze, and look to solve it. And whenever we accomplish some objective, we see very quickly that there’s another mountain left to climb. As the saying goes, “Life offers no rest for the weary.”

Even when life is going well, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life until religious devotion begins to feel like an imposition. Our hearts tend to yearn for anything which allows us to neglect God. The hymn’s third verse pays tribute to this fact.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above

Inertia will draw us away from God. Your experience in faith will attest to this. So we need a way to create momentum back towards fervent devotion. And God in His grace has given us the tools to do so.

Though we talk about raising an altar as something we do, Ebenezer is all about God’s grace. The effort required on our part is simply turning our eyes back to God. We commemorate His work, His goodness, His faithfulness. “Thus far You have brought us; and by Your good pleasure, You will take us home.”

One area it’s helpful to reflect on is in the area of sanctification- that is the process by which God’s Spirit transforms our hearts to make us more like Christ. While the Bible is full of moral commands and implores us to make an effort towards holiness, we are also assured of God’s Spirit in us making our efforts meaningful. It’s one of the paradoxes of scripture

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12-13

Our sin is perhaps the biggest argument against God for most of us, especially when it comes to recurring sin. “If God is at work in me, why do I still…?” Your consciences will quickly fill in that blank. And in addition to our self-awareness, we have a spiritual adversary who the Bible calls the accuser. How do we stand firm against this attack of doubt? We raise Ebenezer

God is not just the author of our salvation, but also the perfector.  He doesn’t simply give us a blank slate and ask us to keep it clean; He makes our hearts clean, slowly and meticulously over the course of a lifetime. When we sing songs of adoration, or allow ourselves to be transformed b His Word, we are walking by the power of His grace.

So when we are burdened by the weight of our recurring sin, of our ill tamed flesh, and of our recurring resistance to good works, let us not despair. Let us reflect of how God has changed us since our salvation. Too often we compare ourselves with others: are we more prone to lust than our brother? Does our sister give more freely of her time and money to charity and ministry? How often though do we compare ourselves to our past?

When we can see clearly how far God has brought us, we are encouraged to trust God to complete what He has started in us. We can lean even more deeply into God’s grace to make us into the person God intends us to be.

Let’s Talk About Hell, Shall We? Part 1

Has this ever happened to you? You’re hanging out with some friends of diverse or no religious affiliations and having a good time. Then someone makes a comment along the lines of, “I sometimes forget you believe I’m going to Hell when I die.” How does anyone respond to that?

Hell is the theological equivalent of racist uncle Jerry for many Christians. While we try to present our faith with a vibrant focus on social justice, ecumenical unity, dynamic Christian community, relational evangelism, and culturally relevant language, Hell is one aspect of Christianity that refuses to become appealing. No matter how we try to dress it up, it’s shocking and rude.

I actually have a lot of empathy with Christians whose doctrine excludes a belief in eternal conscious punishment. It’s a tough one to hold and if I could reject it with any intellectual integrity, I might. But scripture doesn’t give us this freedom if we are to accept it as God’s authoritative revelation.

Doctrinal dismissal, however, is only one way we reject the doctrine of Hell. Many of us avoid Hell by simply never talking about it. Out of sight, out of mind. I’m personally guilty of this. Remarkably few non-Christians play meaningful roles in my life and my knowledge of their pending eternal destiny rarely affects how I interact with them. I’ve posted almost 70 times on this space and mentioned ‘Hell’ three times: Twice in direct quotes from the Bible.

Rejecting Hell- whether doctrinally or by avoidance- is an easy way of dealing with it, at least on the surface. It makes for better public relations. I propose, however, that a more robust engagement with the doctrine of Hell allows us to understand how it fits with God’s love, and can equip us to better communicate it to those who don’t believe. A comprehensive treatment of the topic goes far beyond the scope of my abilities, but I’d like to present the following three points as a guide for further study.

Point 1: Hell is a Verdict

This isn’t a point that is widely disputed, but I think it’s often misunderstood. Does God really send people to Hell for not believing exactly the right set of propositional statements? Or is He so narcissistic as to punish people for not praising Him? How can a loving God send people to Hell? Shouldn’t God understand that we’re only human?

Here’s the story of mankind according to the Bible. God created man as the masterpiece of His creation. We bore His image and had a mandate to nurture and care for the rest of creation under His authority. We enjoyed a degree of harmony with all creation of which we only see glimpses today. But the desire to be like God was the downfall of our race. We weren’t content to reflect His image but desired to craft our own image.

There are many Christians who look at the significance of Genesis 3, not as a historical account, but a metaphor for the drama played out in our society today. This is not necessarily  to say that it didn’t happen, but that debating over the historicity actually obscures the message of the text.

Cultural introspection reveals the outworking of this drama in the battle for freedom. We demand the freedom to choose our own destiny and strike out against any argument that imposes external rules on our behaviour. We organize movements demanding freedom of marriage, freedom to terminate unwanted pregnancy, freedom of information, freedom to bear firearms (more an American issue than Canadian), freedom from censorship, freedom to choose alternative healthcare, and even freedom to die on our terms. We band together against oppression in any form and as a result are a generation unmatched in social justice activism. We only favour restriction as it applies to others. Let’s restrict the freedom of the wealthy to accumulate wealth at the expense of the working class. Let’s restrict the freedom of religious educational institutions to institute a code of conduct for its students. This is not to evaluate these movements/arguments, but to highlight a common trend in them all. Give us more freedom; take away the ability of others to restrict my freedom. Ultimately, we want to be masters of our destinies to the maximum extent possible.

A sovereign Creator stands opposed to this craving for independence. We cringe when Jesus says, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve(Matthew 4:10).”We’re not opposed to the idea of serving God and those who want to should be able to do so in peace. But give us leeway to serve other gods. There are so many things to live for, so many ‘gods’ we can serve and to tie all of humanity down to one seems unfair. The problem is that, again according to the Bible, all of creation belongs to one God and worship is His due. As a Canadian citizen, I am free to disagree with my government’s ideology but obligated to be loyal to the state. This argument is the reason why, despite being labelled a hero by many in the media, Edward Snowden remains stuck in Russia unable to return to the United States. While his actions sparked a more informed debate on domestic spying that is likely to lead to NSA reforms, he was not free to release those documents and is now charged with espionage and potentially treason.

Why does the Bible make belief in Jesus the essential ingredient in salvation? Because rejection of Jesus is submission to another Lord. John’s gospel says, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (John 3:19).” Jesus comes with an invitation to walk in God’s light, but people preferred to make their own way in darkness. The apostle Paul also presents salvation in the language of submission and Lordship in his letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  – Colossians 1:13-14

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. – Ephesians 2:1-3

Here’s something many rarely consider: If Hell is a verdict based on rejection of Jesus, then its execution in the afterlife is actually a delayed sentence. This is in fact, something the Bible also talks about.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9

Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? – Romans 2:4

Many of us get multiple opportunities to reject Jesus and indeed not many commit to serving Jesus the first time the gospel is heard. The picture of humanity we have in scripture is of a people constantly being wooed by their creator, urged to stop being led on by other gods and find true life in His kingdom. Hell is a verdict that God will execute eventually but in the mean time, He is making every effort to extend grace and a way out.

Click for part two

Let’s Talk About Hell, Shall We? Part 2

Point 2: Hell is not Torment for Torment’s Sake

What comes to mind when you think of Hell? For most of us, it’s a mostly naked, male muscular demon ruling over a cavernous domain of fire. The joke goes, once an engineer was mistakenly sent down there and by the time the error was discovered, he had installed air conditioning making it more bearable. We politely laugh as someone repeats that joke for the thousandth time, but miss the assumption underlying this and many other discussions on Hell: the suffering in Hell is a feature that is both punitive and avoidable. In other words, it’s a belief that God made Hell uncomfortable out of malice.

One prominent feature in our notion of Hell is the fire and brimstone, and this comes directly from the pages of scripture. By far the most common picture the Bible paints of Hell is a place of eternal flame (See for example Matthew 13:50, 25:41, Revelation 20:15).

What many don’t realize is that fire is not the only image the Bible gives of Hell. It’s also described as being shut out of the great feast (Matthew 25:10-12), being cast into the outer darkness (Matthew 22:13, 25:30, Jude 13), and being excluded from the city of God (Revelation 22:14-15). Jesus also uses the refrain ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ to describe the experience (Matthew 8:12, 25:13, Luke 13:28).

These two metaphors (fire and darkness) are meant to highlight theological, not physical, realities of Hell. I’ll give two points of proof. First, the Bible is clear that our bodies don’t go to Hell. We fear fire and darkness because we interact with the world as bodily beings. Literal fire and darkness, as far as I understand, will not present much problem for the unfettered souls of man. The second reason is what fire and darkness represent. God’s first recorded action is creation. Before He spoke, the world was formless and dark. Hell’s darkness represents a return to that and the fire represents destruction and deconstruction. Fire consumes; that’s what it does. We as a species have managed to tame fire by allowing it to carry out controlled destruction so we can reap some benefits, but fire itself is a destructive force. In a sense it reverses creation, bringing darkness and formlessness from order and beauty.

If we accept this, then we can say that Hell is an exile from God’s creation. It is to spend eternity without God and unable to benefit from the fruit of His work. It’s essentially receiving what we’ve asked for our entire lives: freedom from God. There’s a phrase the Bible uses a number of times to illustrate this: God giving sinners over to their desires (Psalm 81:11-12, Acts 7:42, Romans 1:24, Ephesians 4:17-19, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). It’s used a form of judgment so that those who resist God are eventually allowed to go their own way.

Theologians, inspired by reading scripture, have coined a term ‘common grace’. Common grace is that gift that God gives to all people allowing them to seek their prosperity here in this life. The earth doesn’t test for faith in Jesus before responding to the farmer’s efforts with fruit. Christians and non-Christians alike are gifted with intellect and creativity to make a living. The danger in common grace is that it is taken for granted and used as an excuse to continue living as though God is not the rightful ruler of all things. We treasure God’s gifts but deny the giver. But one day, common grace will be removed and all will see exactly how dependent we truly are on God’s providence.

For He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. – Matthew 5:45

The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You,
and You give them their food in due season.
 You open your hand;
You satisfy the desire of every living thing.  – Psalm 145:14-16

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.  – Ecclesiastes 8:11-13

None of this is to deny or explain away the torment of Hell. There isn’t a single verse in the Bible that promises any comfort but many speak to its torment. ‘Weeping and gnashing of teeth’ is meant to describe pain and misery. But it’s not as though God adds to the misery of Hell to make a point. To be separated from God is to be separated from all that is good. When we see ‘God is love’ and ‘God of all comfort’ and ‘The Lord of peace’, we begin to sense the cost of His total absence.

Click here for part three

Let’s Talk About Hell, Shall We? Part 3

Point 3: Hell is the Final Triumph of Good over Evil

Three months ago, thousands of voices in the United States and Canada erupted in unified fury at the decision of a grand jury in Missouri not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown. When given voice to their fury, protesters bemoaned what they saw as justice deferred. They were denied not only the verdict they desired but the opportunity for a case to be made. The state prosecutor released documents to the public in an effort to assure that due process was indeed respected in this case, and justice was accomplished, not averted.

We are all too familiar with the pain of justice deferred. We rejoice when the guilty finally get theirs but know that all too often, they don’t. The prophets (Jeremiah 12:1-4, Habakkuk 1:1-4,12-17) and the poets (Psalm 94:1-6) of the Old Testament wrestle with God over this. Why do the evil prosper and the good suffer?

We generally fail, however, to bring this complaint inwards. Why do we get away with some of the things we do? Sometimes we bear the consequences of our error, but often we get away with. We are quick to ask why the guy who cuts us off on the highway going 140km/h doesn’t get pulled over but not why we continually get away with our occasional (or habitual) forays into prohibited driving. We make excuses for ourselves so we don’t have to think of ourselves as lawbreakers. Yes I parked in the handicap spot but it was cold and I was only going to be a minute. As a general rule, we assume the worst of others and the best of ourselves.

We never verbalize this but we would love for sweeping justice to spread through the earth excluding ourselves. Jesus exposed this in a story recounted in John’s gospel. His opponents brought to Him a woman caught in the act of adultery and asked Him to pronounce judgment. Jesus replied with one of the most famous sayings in scripture: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

Can we accept ourselves as sinners? Perhaps. Sinners with excuses but sinners nonetheless. In the Old Testament, God instituted a system to deal with individual sins, with people receiving atonement though the sacrifice of livestock. As the financial cost of wrongdoing began to add up, the depth of the people’s sin was exposed. It was expensive to deal with sins individually, but not to deal with them was to be separated from God. What was needed was a way to atone for sin once for all.

This is why the cross of Jesus is at the centre of the Christian religion. Jesus comes down, lives a sinless life, and takes upon Himself our sin paying for it with His life. He offers us the most one-sided exchange in all history: He gives us His righteousness and takes in return our sinfulness. The moment we accept this exchange is what Christians call salvation, though it takes a lifetime to grow into the fullness of Jesus’ righteousness. God places His Holy Spirit inside believers, transforming us moment by moment- slowly and painstakingly- towards the perfection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ appearance raises the stakes. Before He came, the most moral members of society would point out how many of God’s laws they had kept. But Jesus comes to be THE way and nothing short of His righteousness is acceptable. If we reject Jesus, then we must be perfect as He is because there is now no other way to atone for sin.

Jesus speaking: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.” – John 15:22-24

Jesus here isn’t saying that people were perfect before He came, but that His presence makes them guilty of flat out rejecting God. The oath of allegiance we swear to God is not a vague commitment to good deeds, but conscious submission to Jesus as ruler of our lives. If we reject Jesus or accept Him as any less than God in the flesh, our guilt before God is sealed.

The Christian religion gives us a glimpse at the end of the world as we know it in what we refer to as the apocalyptic texts in the Bible. These can be somewhat difficult to decipher and there’s a lot of disagreement about what events certain passages are referring to, but one thing that is eminently clear is that God wages war against all manner of sin and He wins (Revelation 19:11-21). The world is divided into two camps: those who fight with God and those who fight against Him. Those who fight with God don’t do so because they are nicer, smarter, more virtuous, or better in any way; they are simply those who have accepted the rule of God over their lives.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Heaven is full of these weak and foolish. Hell isn’t a indictment on the relative quality of one’s humanity, but a reality because we are broken, selfish humans. And while it will never be an attractive doctrine, we can’t deny that God’s love and justice necessitates that He punish wrongdoing. In His grace, He has chosen to delay the punishment and to give a way out, but it must eventually come to be. We need not be tied to any physical descriptions of the place, but we cannot deny that all who reject God’s authority in this life will experience life apart from His common grace in the next.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,  to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  – Jude 1:24-25

Miracles and the Activity of God

Many of us know the story of Jesus walking on water in the gospels. In this story, Jesus has his disciples cross the Sea of Galilee by boat while he stayed behind to pray. The disciples find themselves caught in a storm which causes them to panic. Then something cool happens.

“And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”” – Matthew 14:25-27

This happens to one of those Bible stories that’s made its way into the public consciousness. It’s made it’s rounds in the world of internet memes and even received attention from the sacrilegious satirical show, Family Guy. Why is it so popular? Because it’s unusual and spectacular. John’s gospel recounts this story as one of seven signs point to the divinity of Jesus. Here the creator exercises his dominion over the laws of nature. Who wouldn’t want to see that?

Reading the gospels in their entirety though, it’s remarkable to observe that Jesus only pulls this trick once. We have no indication that he ever does it again. It’s not for lack of opportunity either because we see at least three other boat related events in the gospels (Mark 3:7-10,Luke 5:1-3, John 21:4-8) in which walking on water would have been helpful.

How many other miracles does Jesus not perform as often as we might like? Water to wine is a great party trick that only gets shown off once. Feeding crowds with a child’s lunch, paying his taxes from a fish’s mouth, escaping an angry mob by simply walking through them, miraculous haul of fish, resurrecting His buddy Lazarus, and the list goes on.

Even today, doesn’t it seem like God doesn’t work miracles as often as we might like? I count myself among a large number of Christians still seeking God for deliverance from recurring sinful habits and/or debilitating addictions. Prayers for miraculous healing continue to flood prayer hotlines and fill private devotions around the world. We hear the stories of God giving miracles to others and wonder, “When will mine come?”

God freed Peter, Paul, and Silas from prison, but Jesus’ cousin was beheaded after his incarceration. Lazarus was resurrected but Stephen died a martyr. John the apostle was promised a long life, but Peter was given no assurances beyond the moment.

Sometimes God intervenes miraculously in our lives, and sometimes He doesn’t. There are times God prefers to work under the normal laws of nature and sometimes he circumvents them. But He is always working for the good of his children. There has never been, nor will there ever be a time when God is not looking out for us.

There might be some Christians whose faith is closely tied to experiencing God’s grand miracles. Like Peter, they want to stay on at mountain at the transfiguration. That’s where the journey of faith is most exciting and less difficult. Even the rebellious children of Israel during the Exodus believed when God was performing miracles. Their problem was in how they acted when they felt God was silent or distant.

“Why doesn’t God move like He did in Biblical times?” God’s activity between what we see in scripture and in our daily lives seems seriously reduced, if not in power then in frequency. This question plagued me for years as a Christian and for a time, I allowed myself to believe that He doesn’t do that kind of thing anymore. I stopped asking God for anything beyond the probable.

What we need is a proper sense of perspective. Scripture records hundreds of years of history featuring a large number of people. We have a highlight reel of God’s activity. If your initial engagement in a sport is watching game highlights, you’ll likely find live games boring. I wonder what it was like to the first generation after Israel settled in Canaan, hearing their parents tell about the sun standing still during a battle and their grandparents telling how they saw water flowing from a rock and their great-grandparents telling of crossing the Red Sea on dry land. Would they have considered their experience with Yahweh somewhat underwhelming? During the Assyrian assault on Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem received encouragement from Isaiah’s prophecies but how about those in the surrounding towns? Who assured them of God’s coming victory?

God does miracles for many reasons: to show His power, to rescue His people, in answer to prayer, to demonstrate power above His enemies, etc. He restrains Himself also for many reasons. Sometimes it’s so that we  can walk through trials and grow towards maturity(James 1:2-4). Perhaps the miracle we seek would actually hurt us (1 Kings 3:1-3,11:1-4). And sometimes, it’s so we become more dependent on His grace (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). His actions are determined only by His sovereign will and His will is always perfect.

God still makes things happen that only He can. We will all experience his grace at work in our lives. For some of us, it will be in spectacular, visibly miraculous ways. Some of us may never see all God is doing behind the scenes. All we see may be delayed answers to prayers or persistent trials without satisfactory closure. I’ve at times felt like a Baptist surrounded by Pentecostals, or maybe just a Pentecostal doing something wrong. Until my first experience with fundraising for missions, I’d never experienced a ‘miracle’ firsthand. That didn’t mean God wasn’t working, it just meant I wasn’t able to see it.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29

How Should We Pray?

Luke’s gospel records a time Jesus’ disciples ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” I resonate with that question because it’s one I find myself asking even today. It’s not as though I’m unfamiliar with the practice of prayer or feel there is some secret formula to be unlocked, but sometimes I look around me and at myself and wonder if our prayers bring God maximum joy.

For example: why are we afraid to pray big prayers? It’s easy to throw up occasional prayers about traffic when we’re running late or just before walking into an exam we’re unprepared for? Deep down we know that if God doesn’t come through, we haven’t really lost anything. When we do pray for more significant things, we tend to hedge a bit in our prayers. “Your will be done” can be a sentiment of great faith, but often it’s used as a cop out: “Lord grant my request, but if you don’t (or can’t) I guess that’s okay too.”

Does God answer our prayers when we pray like this? I know He does. I know He does because I’ve hedged many of my prayers in the past and seen God come through. I’ve prayed with great hesitation and God has shown Himself gracious in response.

Yet scripture tells us there are times we can and should be more bold. That’s the sense I get when I read Jesus saying, “Everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8). Or in John’s gospel, Jesus promises, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). Or James chides us, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2).

Context matters. Each of these passages and others like them in the New Testament come with certain qualifications. Read a few verses down in Matthew and Jesus makes it clear He’s speaking about receiving the Holy Spirit. And in John’s gospel, Jesus’ purpose in answering is to inspire His disciples to do greater works than He did on earth. James cautions us that we will not receive our requests of self indulgence.

Yes, I know God is ultimately sovereign in all He does. And yes, His specific will can be hard to determine. And yes, our heart can be deceptive about their true motives. These are all true and yet we miss out on something valuable if we go through our entire faith journeys without once coming to God in tenacious faith to see His provision. David urges us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). To taste is to sample, to gain an experience that builds future confidence.

Jesus tells the story of a widow and a corrupt judge. Day after day, the widow comes to the judge seeking justice and she is repeatedly turned away until finally the exasperated judge listens to her. If persistence pays off with a self-seeking sinner, how much so with our loving Father?

I’m not advocating a ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ approach to prayer. God is never under any circumstances obligated to give us anything. The bible makes it very clear that anything God gives us comes from grace. “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). We do not sits as business partners with God demanding our fair share. Rather the confidence we have is that of a small child with absolute faith in their parent to provide.

This approach to prayer is not an isolated phenomenon of faith. It comes from a lifestyle of communion with God. Unless we experience the goodness of God, every teaching on prayer rings hollow.  It doesn’t matter how emphatically we speak of belief, our hearts will never trust a stranger. It would be foolish to even attempt to. Faith grows through relationship. Paul tells us, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). It is in relationship that God speaks to us, giving us direction in how to pray (Ephesians 6:18, Romans 8:26-27).

And maybe that’s where we fall short in thinking about prayer. We’ve been told all our lives that we need to have faith in God to do the impossible and perhaps we feel that faith is a conviction we simply have to muster up intellectually. But faith isn’t something we can summon by force of will.

So faith isn’t a conviction we can muster, but it’s one we can reject. It’s my belief that we know how to pray more often than we admit but allow fear to silence our petitions. We all live with the spectre of unanswered prayers. And we know that if we experience that too often, we will have to ask tough questions about why we believe. It’s much easier just to give God an out. We hedge our prayers or don’t pray for anything too specific… just in case. When we don’t have the stamina to pray persistently, we stretch our definition of answered prayer. “I prayed for a car, but I got good weather for walking.” Or maybe, “I prayed for my friend to be saved and she stopped drinking.” There’s a difference between rejoicing in everything and trusting God for too little. If we feel we have to protect God in how we pray, then is He really worth surrendering our lives? If our prayers are too big for God, then how can we trust Him with our future?

Before this becomes more preachy than I intend to sound, I’m in the process of learning this myself. I’m fundraising to become a full time missionary and my sending organization has a fixed budget I need to raise. Not by my will, I’m in a position where I cannot hedge my prayers. I need God to provide a certain amount in monthly donations by a certain time. All I get to decide is whether I will trust God completely or allow myself to get stressed out. So this is a learning experience for me, one I hope will carry through the rest of my life.

Wrath and Judgment of God in the Old Testament: Part 2

In the last post, I looked at what we can learn about God’s character by examining His judgment and love in the Old Testament. I also acknowledged that sometimes, we’re still left feeling uncomfortable with what we see. This isn’t limited to the Old Testament because the world today continues to astound us with the magnitude of evil allowed to run rampant. Human sin is only a part of the story, as natural disasters destroy entire cities and rack up almost as high a death count as armed conflicts. Humans might be really good at taking each other’s lives, but we have nothing on the forces of nature.

How do we defend God’s love in the face of pain and loss? Can we ever give a satisfactory answer to why God allows the things He does? Is He judging cities when hurricanes and landslides wreak havoc or militants kidnap schoolgirls from their school in a Nigerian village?

Last time I looked at the big picture exploring the scale of God’s love and judgment in His actions in the world. It’s a lot more difficult to do with contemporary events because frankly, we don’t have the whole picture. I’m not going to try to explain why God allowed ISIS to take control of large swaths of territory or how the Ebola epidemic in Liberia proves the supremacy of God’s love. I simply don’t know enough.

What I will advocate, however, is to trust in the goodness of God based on the totality of His self revelation. I’m not advocating for blind or lazy faith, but one that can accept the mysteries of God’s will based on who God is.

I grew up in an African household which practices discipline differently from most Canadian homes. My mother loves to tell the tale of the most severe beating I ever received.  The story begins when I was two years old and I somehow wandered away from church. My parents freaked out and mobilized the church to form search parties. I was found enjoying snacks at a Catholic church some distance away clueless to the panic I’d incited. This wasn’t when I received the worst beating of my life.

It happened a few days later when again I wandered off, this time from home. My mother was the only one at home with me and had nobody to help her find me. Fortunately we lived in a gated community at the time and the gatekeeper recognized me walking out the main gate and returned me home. When my father came home from work, he heard I’d disappeared again and decided to do something about my newfound adventurous spirit.

I laugh now when I hear this story, but imagine what my two year old self thought of this. All I knew was that I went away and got snacks. I couldn’t have known how dangerous it could be so separated from my caregivers. I likely could not appreciate the risks of an ill-timed road crossing, or following strangers or even about going too long without food water and shelter. I couldn’t possibly know how frightened my parents were for my wellbeing. All I knew was that my unplanned adventure resulted in pain delivered by the ones I loved and I never did it again.

But I didn’t develop a fear of my father. I probably even cried in his arms after receiving my punishment. He still represented security and love to my toddler’s mind. Why? Because I knew his love. His kindness far exceeded his wrath. And his anger, though severe, never crushed me. The pain faded after a hour or so, but his tenderness remained.

I believe scripture calls us to a similar trust in our limited understanding. I don’t know why some things happen in this life, especially in light of God’s sovereignty. But I know that God’s love far outweighs His anger. I know that He came into our human experience and suffered loneliness, torture and death on my behalf. And He promises that one day, we will have all the answers we seek.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. – 1 Corinthians 13:12

Did God order the Sandy Hook shooting to punish the parents, community, or nation for sin? I don’t believe so. The New Testament teaches our final judgment happens after our funerals, that God is patient in the meantime giving us time to repent and find forgiveness. Even the Old Testament shows God’s willingness to forgo judgment on Sodom for the sake of ten righteous people. But atrocities and catastrophes don’t represent a victory against God’s will. God is in control even when these things happen. Why does He allow them? I don’t know. Sometimes we can see the good that comes out of evil but often we don’t.

So while asking why God allows evil is a good philosophical practice, the answers are not the basis for our faith. The answer is, instead, in the character of God. In this life we will experience personal and communal devastation, and these will test our answer to the question: Is God still good?

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations. – Psalm 100:5

Wrath and Judgment of God in the Old Testament: Part 1

One of the most troubling incidents in my time as a Christian came shortly after the Sandy Hook school shooting in December of 2012. The loss of so many, especially children, to a random act of violence presents a shocking undeniable challenge to theodicy; that is the question of where God is in suffering. I remember reading one Christian writer’s attempt to explain that this was an act of God’s judgment against America for its commitment to sinful values, drawing on anecdotal evidence from the Old Testament. This isn’t only time I’ve encountered this line of thinking; Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2011 Tsunami in Japan also elicited this public response in some Christian circles.

I suppose what makes these responses troubling is that the case presented in these forums draws upon remarkably strong precedent in the Old Testament. It makes one wonder if Christianity would have been better off if Marcion, a first century Christian leader later condemned as a heretic,  succeeded in excluding the Jewish scriptures from the Christian canon in the first century. He believed that though they provide exposition on God’s interaction with the world, these texts force us to come to face with a God whose actions appear overly cruel- perhaps even evil- towards His enemies. Could we honestly worship such a God as good?

I recently stumbled again on an encounter between Moses and God in the book of Exodus. Moses is facing a crisis in leadership and asks to see God’s glory to sustain his zeal. Below is God’s self revelation to Moses

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands (footnote suggests also: to a thousand generations), forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”  – Exodus 34:6-7

This isn’t the first time I’ve written on this verse. Last year I reflected here on how God revealed His glory in an act of self revelation. This time, though, I want to explore what it is God actually says about Himself.

This is actually the second time in Exodus that God introduces Himself in this way. The first incidence comes at the beginning of the ten commandments, as a promise to the people but also a warning.

“I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands (footnote suggests also: to a thousand generations) of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  – Exodus 20:5-6

God doesn’t shy away from the Marcionic accusation in these passages. Yes, He is slow to anger, but check out the severity of His anger when ignited. Here is even an admission of jealousy, a trait with very few positive connotations to the modern mind.

To stop at this point, however, would be to miss out on much of who God is. This formulaic expression invites us to meet a God who values love and justice; one to a far greater degree. The depth of His love is orders of magnitude greater than His anger. The phrasing suggests that the extent of love and anger are presented qualitatively, not quantitatively. We’re not expected to count generations to figure out whether punishment is still going on for sins committed a hundred years ago. By the accounting of most biblical scholars, a thousand generations haven’t passed since God spoke these words to Moses. In case there’s any doubt, God clarifies many years later through the prophet Ezekiel that He doesn’t punish children because their parents screwed up, contrary to what had become a common proverb (Ezekiel 18:1-4).

“What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” – Ezekiel 18:2-4

Sin, punishment and grace in the Old Testament are huge topics, and not without difficulties. For example, what do we do with the displacement of entire nations of Canaan to secure the promised land for God’s people? Today, Jews and Arabs claim Jerusalem as a holy site, but it’s easy to forget the violent fates of the land’s previous inhabitants. Why does God instruct his people to sign no treaties and show no mercy, but to clear out the land completely?

The story begins in Genesis 9, after the flood wipes out most of humanity (another drastic act of judgment but an article for another time, maybe). Noah, the one man whose goodness found favour with God, gets wasted and blacks out in the nude. Ham, the middle child and father of Canaan, finds his dad in this state of poor role-modelship and, in the absence of instagram, does the next best thing: he calls his brothers to come share in the mockery. Noah wakes up the next morning, realizes what’s happened the previous night and curses his Ham’s descendents.

“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.” -Genesis 9:25-26

So were the inhabitants of Canaan paying for the sins of the father? In one sense, they were. The stage for the conflict was set years before the actors were born. And yet, the Bible mentions that the inhabitants of the land were deserving of God’s judgment in their own right. They weren’t innocent victims of their father’s sin, they had earned their expulsion from the land (Leviticus 18:24-25, Deuteronomy 9:5).

Here’s where we see God’s love outweigh his judgment in scope. Canaan was an act of love towards His people. In reading the text though, you quickly see that the Israelites were not deserving of God’s love. They whined, blasphemed, and had a party attributing God’s victory to an idol of their own creation because Moses was a few days late. They frustrated God so Moses had to intercede for them, then frustrated Moses so God had to intercede for them.

“Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.” – Deuteronomy 9:5-6

The people of Canaan had to earn their expulsion and the Israelites did all they could to forfeit their promise but still found God faithful. The stage for judgment and love were set many years earlier in Genesis, but the play presents the supremacy of love over wrath.

And finally, though mercy was not permitted towards the nations or tribes, those Canaanite individuals who aligned themselves with God’s people were spared. This examples we have include Rahab and the man from Bethel (Judges 1:22-26). Not only were they spared, God ensured that they would not be treated as second class citizens according the law (Leviticus 19:33-34). Rahab was even given the honor of participating in the lineage of Jesus

The Old Testament is stark and graphic in its portrayal of God’s anger and punishment of sin. So much so that we are often left feeling uncomfortable with it. It invites two knee-jerk reactions: some believers will focus on the judgment, appearing to take self-righteous pleasure in the promises that God will judge the unrighteous. Rather than leaving grievances in God’s hands, they hold on to them tighter, sure that God is on their side. Others will attempt to denounce the actions of God, choosing to run a public relations campaign for Him so nobody thinks Him a monster.

The fact is that God judges evil and He does so sometimes in this life, and sometimes quite harshly. But both testaments of the Bible introduce us to a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love

How Can WeBelieve Even When It Seems Unbelievable

This fall, The CW launched a new show focusing on DC superhero The Flash, known also by his civilian identity: Barry Allen. As a kid, Barry witnessed the death of his mother, committed in supernatural fashion- a lightening storm indoors, and a man inside the storm- and being a child he did the only thing he could do and ran. Unfortunately, the rest of the world had a different account of what happened that night and his father was convicted of the crime.

But Barry believed what he saw and committed to following every lead, every story, every rumour of supernatural activity, hoping against hope to find evidence corroborating his account of what happened that night. The show picks up with him as an adult, a mostly well-adjusted young forensic something or other with somewhat of a normal social life- except for this one obsession.

I wonder what makes a person so certain that contrary testimony from every single other person does nothing to sway their confidence; that even though the wisdom of the age aligns itself against their worldview, they remain unmovable.

Is that the picture of faith we have in scripture? Are we essentially believing the unbelievable, shutting our minds to the objections of the sin-addled society around us until Jesus takes us to heaven someday and rewards our persistence?

Early in my faith journey, I remember times of frustration with certain anti-intellectual elements I perceived in the church. It seemed to me that Christians were a people who refused to ask tough questions and weren’t interested in the answers. “Just believe” was the mantra and I knew I wasn’t built to function like that.

Then someone handed me a copy of C.S Lewis’ Mere Christianity and the horizon of my faith was opened to a whole new dimension of spiritual engagement. This was my permission to wrestle honestly with challenges to faith. I couple of years later, I read Reason for God by Timothy Keller and I made up my mind- rather subconsciously, mind you- not to believe anything about God I couldn’t rationally explain.

God is, however, much bigger than we can understand. Rationality, I’m coming to find, is a remarkably shaky foundation for faith. The adage goes, “Nobody has ever been argued into the kingdom of God.” I can imagine Paul speaking to Western Christians in similar manner to the first century Galatians, “Why foolish Canadians! Who has bewitched you? Did you receive the Spirit by rational argument or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to sustain your salvation by logic and reason?”

This isn’t to deny the place of reason is sustaining our faith. I remain deeply indebted to the writings Tim Keller, C.S Lewis, John Piper, and the ever controversial Mark Driscoll in helping me bridge the gap between truths hidden in ancient narratives and the context of modern life. I still find myself incredibly frustrated if a preacher depends of fallacious arguments or weak reasoning in crafting a sermon. If you want me to adhere to your doctrinal position, you must be willing to engage honestly with the real and honest objections brought about by my experience as a 22 year old interacting with 21st century society.

But to a surprisingly large degree, faith requires a willingness to believe the unbelievable against the wisdom of many who “know better”. The real world presents so many opportunities to doubt God’s sovereignty, or His goodness, or His justice, or even His presence. We will never know why we, or those around us, experience the things we do no matter how much theologizing we attempt. I attended a funeral this summer that should not have been necessary if God is truly fair. No amount of page turning in scripture makes sense of it. I know many people who would be much better suited to work on university campuses in Uganda and a few careers I feel better suited for, yet I can’t shake the certainty that I’m called to share Christ in Ugandan universities for the next three years.

At some point, we have to accept “I don’t know” as a certainty in faith. Some periods of our lives will require us to obey without knowing why. Scripture says, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Sometimes, that’s the only assurance we have.

So what is meant to sustain us if not intellect? What assurance do we have to help us persevere when we have doubts? How can we continue looking for the man in the lightening storm when everyone else offers a more reasonable explanation?

I thought about this and the only answer I have, personally, is the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages the church in Rome saying, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). When I can’t see God at work, when I have more questions than answers, there’s something on the inside saying, “Just go on a little longer.”

Sometimes, God’s spirit doesn’t move in easily definable ways. We don’t always hear God’s voice or have dreams. We may not even feel any particular connection in our times of prayer, scriptural meditation, or in the practice of any of our spiritual disciplines. Between the Old and New Testaments is a 400 year period in which we have no record of God’s revelation (most evangelicals don’t consider the Apocryphal writings from this period as canon). Yet when the New Testament opens, we see the people of God retaining much of their faith and practice, even after being conquered.

There are times when Christianity is an exercise in blind faith, and yet it’s God who enables us to keep faith even in these times. This is the confidence David expresses in Psalm 23. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

We will experience victories of logic and reason in defending our faith. We will have times of deep spiritual refreshment and witness God at work in supernatural occurrences. We will also walk through extended periods of doubt and questioning, times in which God seems no more than a flight of wistful fantasy. Through it all, God will carry us. He is the foundation on which our faith stands.

“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You’d walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.”

-Margaret Fishback Powers, “Footprints in the Sand”