Second-Hand Truths

“God is in control”… “God has a good plan”… “God doesn’t abandon those he loves”…

There are plenty of things we say about God and plenty of things we believe about God.  The trouble is we don’t always say what we believe or believe what we say.  What makes matters worse is we are mostly blind to this.  More or less we normally don’t feel much of an effect of the difference between what we confess to believe and what we practically believe.  However, when loss or suffering smack us in the mouth we start asking questions attempting to make sense of the pain and confusion.  These questions, if paid attention to, can help us understand more about ourselves than we did before.

Not all questions are doubt or unbelief.  There are some questions that will go unanswered until the Lord finishes renewing all of his creation.  A lot of our “why is he letting this happen” type questions will probably go unanswered for now.  And we shouldn’t minimize or try to ignore the pain and faith tumbling together in those questions.  They are the groaning of a dependent child reaching for the Father they trust.  However, there are other questions that reveal something else.

“Second-hand truths” are truths about God handed down to us from other people’s faith we have yet to make our own.  They are truths that have no trouble rolling off our tongue in the sunshine but unresponsively drown under sorrow’s tears.  They are truths we know we should believe, but our anger or pain reveal the type of unbelief found Mark 9:24.  A father exhausted by his son’s need for Jesus’ help cries out: “I believe but help my unbelief!”  Second-hand truths are the fuel of a believers doubt.  When pain puts pressure on our hearts our truest beliefs come out.  A once triumphal “God is in good!'” becomes “he shouldn’t have let this happen” as we suffer.  A reassured “God has a good plan for my life” transforms into “what good can come of this?” when loss separates.  A confident “God doesn’t abandon those he loves” is replaced with “where are you, and why did you leave?” when a decaying world erodes good things.  I believe, but help my unbelief.

The truth is God seems to have designed redemption and reconciliation to slowly happen in the midst of suffering.  The same seems to be true with faith.  Second-hand truths we’ve been given through our parents, sermons, and the latest and greatest book we read tend to become “our own” when they have walked us through trials and hurt.  You hear second-hand truths becoming personal graces when, through tears, someone says: “I’m learning that…”.  We have to learn that God is: good, in control, loving, compassionate, and faithful; we don’t just make a intellectual accent to such truths.  More times than not, we learn such things “first-hand” as God compassionately  walks us through our suffering.  He does this most clearly through his people; those people who join us as fellow sufferers traveling the same road of pain Jesus himself walked before us.  I believe but help my unbelief.