Tony5875
Crisis of
Faith
What is a crisis of faith?
Answer: The term
crisis of faith usually refers to the point at which a person feels that he or
she can no longer serve God or follow Christ. A person going through a crisis
of faith is tempted to turn away from all he or she had believed in. gotquestions.org
I listened to a
podcast today: “Made For This with Jennie Allen.” post #18. She interviewed a woman who had gone to
Africa as a missionary and events occurred that caused her to lose her faith in
God.
Immediately after I
heard this story, I listened to Timothy Keller give a sermon, called “Meeting
the Real Jesus,” about John the Baptist and Jesus. He read the story of when
John was in prison and he sent some of his friends to ask Jesus this question: “Are
you the one who is to come or should we look for another?”
Even though God had
showed John by a miracle that Jesus was the Messiah, he now questioned his
belief. He had been thrown into prison and knew he could die. Jesus was doing
nothing to fight against the Romans or get him out of jail. He even refused
when people wanted to make him King of Israel. What kind of Messiah was he?
Jesus told John’s
disciples to go back to John and tell him what they had seen him do that day.
He had healed the sick, “The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news
proclaimed to them. Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Matthew 11:5,6
Jesus was referring to Isaiah 61:1, where it
explains the work of the Messiah. And he finished by telling John those are
blessed who are not offended by Jesus. John was having a crisis of faith, and
that crisis has its root in being offended by God.
The woman
missionary was offended by what God let happen to her. She had thought God
would act differently than he did. She started thinking there was no God at
all. He wasn’t the kind of God she thought she knew.
That happened to
one of my sisters when she lost her health, her job and had to sell her home
and eventually live in a van. Then her dog ran off in the desert and never returned.
She was very angry at God. He had given her a horrible life, she felt. She told
me, “The only thing he hasn’t taken is my van.”
We had long talks about
this when she came and lived with my husband and I. I also had been through
terrible times, but I had studied many books on the subject of God and
suffering and why he allows it. Gradually, she came to see that she wanted to
go back to God and she did. The day she left our home she said, “I’ve told God
he can take my van too if he wants to.” This gave me great joy.
My crisis of faith
came when I was 42. I saw someone I love go through terrible suffering and that
was very painful. But it was actually the thought of all the millions who had
suffered just like her that made me turn from God. I could not understand and I
was offended.
After a few years
of study, I did seem to understand and also, I missed God. At that time in my
life it was impossible for me to believe God loved me, but it was a fact that
there was nowhere else to go. He was the one with words of eternal life. He was
the one who had a book that was awe-inspiring. He was the one who kept saying, “Help
the poor and needy. Feed the hungry and love your enemy.”
I’m now glad I had
this crisis of faith because incredibly, my faith is stronger now than ever. I
always knew my faith was tiny, but when my grandson died, I saw what God had
done to me. I had peace and rested in his arms. When my husband had a stroke, I
was filled with peace once again. Learning to trust God in the face of suffering
is a fantastic thing, in spite of the confusion and mental pain.
Many Christians
have a crisis of faith during their walk with God. Many of us have the wrong
idea of who God is, especially those who are raised in a religious home. We
grow up believing what our parents believe, we grow up in a certain church
which has its beliefs. And they are all so sure that what they believe is
true.
Sometimes, God will
step into our lives to show us what is true or untrue about himself. He wants
us to know him as he is. And sometimes he needs to take away all the things we
rely on because we haven’t learned to rely on him. He does this because he
loves us. Something I finally believe for myself in my old age.
