WHEN FAITH BEGINS TO WOBBLE
By Erwin Bourne—July 27, 2002

I must credit Dr. James Dobson, America/s foremost
family counselor, for many of the thoughts expressed
in this lesson.  These thoughts are gleaned from his
book, WHEN GOD DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.  This

writer is in full agreement with Dr. Dobson’s belief

expressed in the chapter, “HE WILL DELIVER US,

BUT IF NOT….”

Perhaps you have noticed that life seems blatantly
unfair.  It pampers some of us and devastates others.
Perhaps this is the most disturbing question posed to
the thoughtful Christian.  How can we explain such an
apparent injustice?  How can an infinitely loving and
just God permit some people to experience lifelong
tragedy, while others seem to enjoy every good and
perfect gift?

Many Theologians explain this by stating that sickness
and death came into the world because of sin and we
are all under sentence of death.  It comes to some
sooner than others.  This explanation of suffering is
not very satisfying as we look into the face of a
child in pain.  It is, however, the best we can do.
We can explore the mind of God only so far, and then,
inevitably, “we run out of brain power (Dr. James
Dobson).

In God’s lengthy interchange with Job, not once did
Jehovah apologize or attempt to explain the hardship
that befell His servant.  Still we are told specifically

that God is loving, kind, merciful, longsuffering,

gracious, fatherly, patient etc.  So what are we going

to do with the discomfort of unanswered questions? 

Dr. Jim Conway says:  “Either we continue to believe

in God’s goodness and postpone our questions until

we see Him face to face—or we will descend into

bitterness and anger for the suffering around us.” 

It’s not that God can’t heal the blind—or any other
disease or deformity.  He can and he does, but He
never performs those miracles en masse.  Mass-

produced miracles affront the sovereignty of God,

and make a sham of His holy worship.  Dobson says,

“There is a reason I am opposed about the teaching

of universal health and prosperity.  It establishes a

level of expectation which will eventually wound and

weaken unstable Christians.  Sooner or later an

illness, a business collapse, an accident, or some

other misfortune will leave him in dismay.

It seems that every believer has at least one problem
with his “clay pot” that is especially troublesome—a
nagging irritant or disease—that the Lord steadfastly
refuses to remove.  I call them “if onlys.”  Look
around at your Christian friends.  Talk to them about
their circumstances.  Most will admit to having an “if
only” that keeps life from being ideal.  If only I didn’t

have diabetes, or deafness, or sinus problems
(or any combination of medical problems). 

If only my husband and I were not infertile.  If only
I had not gotten into that bad business relationship,
or a lawsuit or a loveless marriage.  If only we
didn’t have a sick child, or a retarded son or
daughter, or a troublesome mother-in-law.  If only we
were not so strapped financially.  If only I had not
been sexually abused as a child.  If only…if only God
would clear up this one difficulty for me.  Yet the
problems persist.  Regarding those difficulties, the
Lord quietly repeats what He said to Paul nearly two
thousand years ago.  “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness”

(II Corinthians 12:9).

Elisabeth Elliot proposed another explanation for the
troubles of mankind in a short essay called
“Nevertheless, We Must Run Aground.”  This is what

she wrote: 

Have you ever put heart and soul into something,
prayed over it, worked at it with a good heart because
you believed it to be what God wanted, and finally
seen it “run aground?”  The story of Paul’s voyage
across the Adriatic Sea tells how an angel stood
beside him and told him not to be afraid (in spite of
winds and hurricane force, for God would spare his
life and the lives of all with him on board the ship.
Paul cheered his guards and fellow-passengers with
that word but added, “Nevertheless, we must run
aground on some island, (Acts 27:26).

Heaven is not here, it’s there.  If we were given all
we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world
rather than the next.  God is forever luring us up and
away from this one, wooing us to Himself  and His
still invisible Kingdom where we will certainly find
what we so keenly long for.

“Running aground,” then, is not “the end of the
world.”  But it helps to “Lead us not into temptation”

—the temptation complacently to settle for visible

things.


by Erwin Bourne
Outreach_Amazon@yahoo.com