As I began to think about the question you have asked quite a few thoughts crossed my mind.
1. Did Ivonne suddenly begin to doubt that GOD exists at all?
2. Or did she really mean that she had lost confidence in GOD’S faithfulness and goodness toward her?
3. To have even asked the question it shows that you want to be close to GOD.
Let’s start with the word why.
I. Why?
Perhaps the question to ask ourselves at this point is not so much why we lost our faith in GOD. Instead we should consider why we had our faith in the first place.
a. How did we gain our faith?
Often people gain their faith simply because they accept what their parents, church or teachers say.
That’s OK to a degree. But it is not the same as really searching out for ourselves just why we know that GOD exists and that the Bible is His word.
Do you know their are irrefutable proofs that prove beyond any reasonable doubt that GOD exists and that the Bible is His word? There are. The first way is the mathematics of probabilities in sequential predictions and the second way is creation.
GOD exists. That reality can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt.
So did you gain your faith because you know many infallible proofs? Or did you simply grow up around people and places of faith and simply accepted the existence of GOD as true?
b. application
If you have seen that the existence of GOD can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt than your question is not really”Why have I lost my faith in you?” It is “Why have I lost my confidence in you?”
Would it surprise you to know that the Apostle Peter had this same problem even after having lived with Christ for three and a half years? We will see why in a little bit.
II. Did Ivonne suddenly begin to doubt that GOD exists at all?
If a person begins to doubt GOD’S existence I have to ask the question is that “Is there an academic reason for this or an experiential reason?”
In answer to some earlier posts we have gone to some length proving the existence of GOD. Please refer to them if you want to see proofs that are undeniable.
A. Predictions
so we may know that you are gods.
----Isaiah 41:23a
For since the creation of the world
God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made,
so that men are without excuse.
----Romans 1:20
Once we prove the existence of GOD it is irrelevant to that reality if we don’t like or understand HIS way of going about things.
III. Did Ivonne really mean that she had lost confidence in GOD’S faithfulness and goodness toward her?
I ask this question because sometimes the foundation of our faith is flawed and when bad things happen to us we doubt our faith because we think things should have happened different than they did.
Here is what I mean in more practical terms. Many people’s philosophy of faith goes something like this:
“GOD, I thought we had an understanding. If I gave myself to the faith whole heartedly and lived for you righteously then you would ‘have my back’.
But I’m getting slaughtered down here and you don’t seem to have my back. Where are you? Are you really there?”
Many people think this whether they articulate it that way or not. Perhaps you do also. I used to.
Here are some things to consider.
A. Sometimes terrible things happen to very good believers.
James Dobson wrote a book titled “When GOD doesn’t make sense.” It’s a book worth reading and I recommend it.
To think that GOD looks at things as we do is shattered by reading the book of Job.
By GOD’S own statement Job was the most righteous man alive at that time. Yet in spite of that GOD allowed everything he had to be taken from him. He lost his wealth, health, children and respect of his friends.
Then the LORD said to Satan,
"Have you considered my servant Job?
There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright,
a man who fears God and shuns evil."
----Job 1:8
Remember GOD’S intelligence is hugely different than our own so we cannot begin to understand what goes into why He does things the way He does.
There was a war in heaven going on over the character of Job. Because of Job’s faithfulness GOD was glorified and for thousands of years later (Long after all that he had would have turned to dust any way) Believers have looked at his story and realized that there is more to life than what is obvious to the naked eye.
Perhaps you have been wanting something more tangible from GOD. Maybe your thoughts about GOD did not jibe with reality even though you thought they did.
B. Sometimes people Try to reshape GOD
Have you ever wondered why the Apostle Peter told Christ that he was willing to die for him? Than prove it by suicidally pulling a sword on a large force of trained soldiers. Yet within a few hours deny Christ three times?
There is a reason. That reason coincidently applies to many of us.
For three and a half years Jesus had been telling the Apostles that his purpose was to die and therefore pay for the sins of the world.
But they were not listening. They twisted around Jesus’ words to mean that Christ was coming to defeat the Roman army and set up his Kingdom now.
That is seen in many places including how they bickered over who would sit on Jesus right hand and left hand when he sat on his throne. (Matt: 20:20-28)
This gets to Peter’s behavior. Even though he walked and talked with Jesus. Peter had a religion different than the one Jesus was teaching. Peter’s religion was that Jesus would come as conqueror now. He was ready to die for that religion.
But when Jesus rebuked Peter and said not to fight, in the Garden of Gethsemane
Peter was rocked to the core of his being. Now he did not know what to believe.
He had no beliefs at all at that moment. Much less not one worth dieing for. So he gave up on his faith altogether and ran away.
Peter had lost his faith. How did that happen? Because he had believed false things about Jesus. He had made up a Jesus of his own choosing. Sometimes people do the same thing today. I have been guilty of that.
I thought GOD was supposed to have my back. When he didn’t seem to be holding up what I thought was supposed to be His part of the agreement I lost confidence in Him.
IV. Four Faith strengthening exercises
A. Meditate on the perfect design of nature
B. Understand that GOD’S workings don’t necessarily mean that He will fix our lives. Sometimes our needs are at cross purposes with the Kingdom needs.
C. Rest in His goodness.
Once we prove GOD exists and the Bible is His word. We give things to Him in prayer with confidence that he is doing something with them. GOD is almighty, all wise and all good. Accept that reality and rest in it.
D. Read and ponder the scriptures daily (Psalm 119:130)
Don
Job 10:8;13:15
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