As I have said so often now, getting the biblical balance right is crucial. And this applies in so many areas. Here I want to speak about the need for biblical balance in terms of the believer embracing both certainty as well as mystery. That is, there are many things that we can be quite sure about, but there are also many things that leave us wondering, that leave us with questions, that leave us with mystery.
Let me explain. We have an entire book (really, 66 books) which contains all that we need to know about God, why we are here, what our problem is, and how things can be sorted out. So who we are, why we exist, how to get right with God, is all spelled out clearly in Scripture.
But so many other things that we might wonder about are not always clearly disclosed to us. As Francis Schaeffer used to say, we have true truth, but not exhaustive truth. God has given us all the vital information that we need to have, but he has not told us everything.
So in many areas – especially in terms of our own personal lives – we are left with countless questions. We do not fully know why we did not get that job we so very much wanted, or why the person we liked so much never became our spouse, or why a loved one died early, or why a friend got cancer, or why our church let us down so greatly.
A million questions can arise, and we do not always get the answers we are looking for – at least in this life. Presumably in the next life we will either get more clarity on some of these matters, or the questions will then disappear and seem not so very important any longer.
Especially when it comes to suffering and hardships and trials and adversity, we can have so very many questions, and most of them seem never to be answered – or at least answered to our liking. So all we can do is keep walking with God, even with so many unresolved questions.
Indeed, if we had all the answers, if we had all the solutions, we would be God. Or at the very least, we would have no need for faith, no need for trust, and so on. Thus having questions and concerns can be a good thing. It keeps us dependent on God. It makes us want to know him more. It helps build trust in our lives. It can improve our prayer life. The benefits are many.
Let me tease this out a bit further, and with my own story as a part of it. Some time ago on the social media a person had a post about how they had a huge improvement in their cancer situation. It seems they really are now doing quite well. The person said something like this: ‘It is a real miracle. It is such an answer to all your prayers.’
To which any Christian would rightly shout ‘Amen!’. God is a miracle-working God, and God certainly does answer prayer. So this was terrific news indeed, and I believe I pressed the ‘like’ button on that post. Always great to hear such reports. But….
Of course at the very same time that I was reading this I had some other thoughts going through my head as well. The truth is, other people – indeed, millions of other people – including myself, had a somewhat different outcome to a similar situation. As some of you know, my wife had a quite rare and quite aggressive form of breast cancer.
I and so many others of course were praying for her. Were there many hundreds of Christians all up praying for her? Perhaps even thousands? Friends, family, church members, even those who had never met her were praying, and many of them were praying fervently.
Yet after a very tough 18-month battle, she lost out to that cancer. The cancer won. Of course, God always wins, and she is now in the arms of her loving Saviour and suffering no more. That is great news too. And I look forward to one day catching up with her again.
But how do we reconcile these two cases? Can we reconcile them? Here we had one person with cancer getting a lot of prayer and seemingly winning out in the end – at least thus far. And another person, getting a lot of prayer, does not see those prayers answered as one would have liked.
So many questions arise here, and the old problems of God, suffering and evil also arise here. Theodicy is the more technical term for all this. And even the most theologically and philosophically literate believers will still have heaps of questions about these things.
Not only do I have numerous articles on all this on this website, but entire libraries exist filled with learned volumes seeking to address these matters. So I have nothing new to add to all that here, not is it my intention to try to do so. Instead, just a few rather random thoughts can be offered.
One is a pastoral consideration. As I mentioned, this social media acquaintance posted about their good news in this regard. That was fully appropriate and acceptable. But….
Obviously this person wanted to have others rejoice in this good news. I would want the same. But as I shared above, not everyone gets such a good outcome. Some get terrible news. Some get devastating news. And the faith of some believers will be sorely tested with such bad outcomes. Some will even abandon the faith.
So I guess at the very least, as we share good news stories like these, perhaps we need to be a little bit aware of others and what they might be going through. Again, it was good and right and proper for this person to want to rejoice and others to rejoice as well.
I am NOT saying we should never share good news or never praise God for great outcomes in this life. It is always good to give thanks. It is always good to see God’s good hand in our lives. But….
Two things I recall from an older Australian pastor (who I believe is still alive) can be mentioned here. The first is this: At one church service, he opened things up for folks to stand and briefly share their stories, and to offer thanks to God.
One young gal got up to thank God for doing well in her high school graduation and for getting a place at a good university. I believe those were more or less the details of her testimony. But this pastor sort of cut her discussion short. I think he had in mind all those who did NOT do well in school or did NOT get the place in university that they were hoping and praying for.
This was quite some time ago, and I do not recall all the details, nor know fully what his intentions were there. But he may well have been acting wisely and compassionately in that case. At least in my eyes that was what he was trying to do. He wanted to be sensitive to others in a similar position yet who were experiencing quite different outcomes.
My second story, also involving this pastor, is this: Every year at Christmas time he would make a point of asking all those in this church – and it was a very large church – to let him know if they were home alone for Christmas. If they had nowhere to go, or were living all alone, he wanted to know so that he could share a Christmas meal with them.
I forget exactly how that played out. If there were too many of such folks he would not have been able to fit them all in his home. So maybe he had a team of church folks to help him use the church kitchen and make a wonderful meal for all these lonely people.
This too is similar sort of thing where we have similar events but quite different outcomes. For most of these folks at this largely middle-class church, they would have had a terrific Christmas meal and celebration at home with family and friends. The tree would be up, presents shared, great food enjoyed, and a neat time would be had by all.
But for other church folk at Christmas, it could be a terribly sad, lonely and depressing time. They are all alone with no one to look after them or care for them or share with them. So this pastor at least made sure that none of them would be overlooked and miss out. Both are good things.
I hope these two examples make a bit of sense and help illustrate what I am trying to say here. I might just be rambling a bit in all this, but I am trying to make a few points. In many areas in the Christian life we have a lot of clarity and certainty. But many areas can be puzzling, unclear, and far too mysterious.
We need to trust God in the dark. We need to keep seeking him even when the questions pile up. And we also need to be sensitive to others as they continue on in their spiritual journey. Some of the things that we might be celebrating and rejoicing in at the moment might be a cause of sadness and sorrow for them.
Yes, we celebrate and thank God for all the good things in life. But even in the not so good things we need to give him thanks, to trust him, and to rely on him. In other words, we need to learn to thank, praise, love and worship God not just for all the good things we experience, but because of who he is.
A quote I so often use from Charles Spurgeon is once again worth running with here:
“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart. When you are so weak that you cannot do much more than cry, you coin diamonds with both your eyes. The sweetest prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who have no hope in anything but his love.”
Your above post is one of your best recent pieces, Bill.
So there is no need for you to say, “I might just be rambling a bit in all this.”
Your message is spot on.
I love your account of the wisdom of the older Australian pastor with a heart for the lost.
Your message should provide timely comfort to many of your readers who are experiencing hardship.
Above all, it is a useful reminder for perplexed Christians of what it means to be mature in faith.
Thanks so much John.
All religions are scams preying on the gullibility of uneducated people of low intellect.
Cancer is mostly the result of random genetic mutations, which also explain the variety and origin of life and human diversity.
Shit happens. Often randomly. Some have good luck, some have bad. Stochastic events explain almost everything about the world. There is no need for hand-wringing, childish pondering about why God does this or that.
Discuss. Intelligently.
Ha! I knew the ornery atheists would show up here rehashing their tired old foolishness. Sorry Sam, but you forfeited any right to a discussion with your juvenile opening sentence. So much for intelligently discussing the issue. With over two and a half millennia of some of the finest minds on the planet – be they philosophers, scientists, theologians, doctors and so on – who have brilliantly and articulately defended and promoted theism and the supernatural, you just reveal your woeful ignorance or your appalling hatred of any views other than your own narrow little misotheism. And the old and failed atheist ‘defense’ that ‘crap just happens, so get used to it’ offers SO much comfort and hope to millions as they deal with real evil and suffering. NOT. Sorry, but I just don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.
In the “take up your cross” scripture Jesus makes it perfectly clear that in this life we will suffer injustice, just as He did but we have the promise that, when things are restored and justice accomplished, life will be much better than ever before. That is the hope, trust and patience of the saints.
The trying of our faith is worth more than gold because even gold will perish but faith remains eternal. (1 Pet 1:7) This, of course, is the very difficult thing for people to come to grips with. Even though it makes perfect sense that conceptual things like justice, love and mercy are far more important to an all knowing God, rather than things like wealth, the concept that the spiritual is more solid than the material is well beyond most of our natural experiences, especially when we suffer injustice – hence the need to be born from above.
I know God knows it is not an easy ask.
Thanks Michael.
Bill, well written, well put, I share with you in this as I lost my wife to 3 different cancers over about 10 years, then due to the severity of the chemo and radiation each time her lungs were impacted and failed, her last breath placing her putting her in the Presence of Jesus.
As I write this I’m looking at a picture of her taken after one of her “recoveries”, smiling, happy, stethoscope around her neck, back on the job as an RN, helping people in need, which she loved.
When I see people smoking or read of them abusing their bodies with any number of drugs, or alcohol, anger begins to well up in me, or sadness, or both(!), Carol never used these things, never abused her body.
Even though I’m not always gracious when I’m seeing this the Lord is gracious to me, and long suffering! He reminds me of 1 Thess 5:16-18, Rejoice ALWAYS, no matter my situation I can rejoice in Jesus and His abundant, merciful salvation for me a sinner(!).
Pray WITHOUT CEASING, I need to be in a constant state and heart and mind of prayer to God for His wonderful Presence and His wonderful promises(!). In EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS, no matter what has happened, good or bad, no matter what is currently happening, no matter what may happen, I try to thank and praise our good and gracious Lord for what He HAS blessed me with, and the wonderful future I have coming with Him in the New Heavens & New Earth!
For this is ALL the will of God for me, for us in Christ Jesus!
I’m not always consistent or successful in this, but He is faithful to remind me of these wonderful scriptures and to work in my tired, old spirit to seek Him and His will in Christ.
Your above post is one of your best recent pieces, Bill.
So there is no need for you to say, “I might just be rambling a bit in all this.”
Your message is spot on.
I love your account of the wisdom of the older Australian pastor with a heart for the lost.
Your message should provide timely comfort to many of your readers who are experiencing hardship.
Above all, it is a useful reminder for perplexed Christians of what it means to be mature in faith.
Thanks so much John.
All religions are scams preying on the gullibility of uneducated people of low intellect.
Cancer is mostly the result of random genetic mutations, which also explain the variety and origin of life and human diversity.
Shit happens. Often randomly. Some have good luck, some have bad. Stochastic events explain almost everything about the world. There is no need for hand-wringing, childish pondering about why God does this or that.
Discuss. Intelligently.
Ha! I knew the ornery atheists would show up here rehashing their tired old foolishness. Sorry Sam, but you forfeited any right to a discussion with your juvenile opening sentence. So much for intelligently discussing the issue. With over two and a half millennia of some of the finest minds on the planet – be they philosophers, scientists, theologians, doctors and so on – who have brilliantly and articulately defended and promoted theism and the supernatural, you just reveal your woeful ignorance or your appalling hatred of any views other than your own narrow little misotheism. And the old and failed atheist ‘defense’ that ‘crap just happens, so get used to it’ offers SO much comfort and hope to millions as they deal with real evil and suffering. NOT. Sorry, but I just don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.
In the “take up your cross” scripture Jesus makes it perfectly clear that in this life we will suffer injustice, just as He did but we have the promise that, when things are restored and justice accomplished, life will be much better than ever before. That is the hope, trust and patience of the saints.
The trying of our faith is worth more than gold because even gold will perish but faith remains eternal. (1 Pet 1:7) This, of course, is the very difficult thing for people to come to grips with. Even though it makes perfect sense that conceptual things like justice, love and mercy are far more important to an all knowing God, rather than things like wealth, the concept that the spiritual is more solid than the material is well beyond most of our natural experiences, especially when we suffer injustice – hence the need to be born from above.
I know God knows it is not an easy ask.
Thanks Michael.
Bill, well written, well put, I share with you in this as I lost my wife to 3 different cancers over about 10 years, then due to the severity of the chemo and radiation each time her lungs were impacted and failed, her last breath placing her putting her in the Presence of Jesus.
As I write this I’m looking at a picture of her taken after one of her “recoveries”, smiling, happy, stethoscope around her neck, back on the job as an RN, helping people in need, which she loved.
When I see people smoking or read of them abusing their bodies with any number of drugs, or alcohol, anger begins to well up in me, or sadness, or both(!), Carol never used these things, never abused her body.
Even though I’m not always gracious when I’m seeing this the Lord is gracious to me, and long suffering! He reminds me of 1 Thess 5:16-18, Rejoice ALWAYS, no matter my situation I can rejoice in Jesus and His abundant, merciful salvation for me a sinner(!).
Pray WITHOUT CEASING, I need to be in a constant state and heart and mind of prayer to God for His wonderful Presence and His wonderful promises(!). In EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS, no matter what has happened, good or bad, no matter what is currently happening, no matter what may happen, I try to thank and praise our good and gracious Lord for what He HAS blessed me with, and the wonderful future I have coming with Him in the New Heavens & New Earth!
For this is ALL the will of God for me, for us in Christ Jesus!
I’m not always consistent or successful in this, but He is faithful to remind me of these wonderful scriptures and to work in my tired, old spirit to seek Him and His will in Christ.
Gary Mitchell