I've been thinking about faith. It started with reading Philip Yancey's new book, Reaching for the Invisible God. I like Yancey's thoughtfulness and willingness to wrestle with difficult questions of the Christian life, as well as his clear writing. What started out as an intellectual exercise, though, became more personal this week when I learned that an acquaintance has had a recurrence of cancer and the prognosis is poor. This individual is a fine Christian and has done much in God's service and the news started a flood of the "why" questions in my mind - why haven't you healed them, why do allow faithful servants to be stricken, why does the family have to go through this. Why?
Yancey helped answer some of the whys with a quote from George Everett Ross:
"... there are two kinds of faith. One says if and the other says though. One says: 'If everything goes well, if my life is prosperous, if I'm happy, if no one I love dies, if I'm successful, then I will believe in God and say my prayers and go to church and give what I can afford.' The other says though: ' though the cause of evil prosper, though I sweat at Gethsemane, though I must drink my cup at Calvary - nevertheless, precisely then, I will trust the Lord who made me.' So Job cries: 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.' "
Life can be hard, very hard at times. May we all seek "though" faith to answer it, as this is the faith that changes people and nations and honors Him who made us. It is the Rock on which we are made to stand.
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