In the movie "A Few Good Men," Jack Nickelson plays an insecure Marine Colonel hiding behind bravado, pretense and position but is called on the carpet by a young naive captain played by Tom Cruise. Cruise's character demands to know the truth surrounding the suspicious death of another Marine. Exacerbated by Cruise's naive and truth-demanding character, Nickelson screams at him saying "You want the truth?...You can't handle the truth!"
As Christians we have the truth, but given the truth found in God's Word and the presence of God's Holy Spirit, I wonder how well we can handle the confusion. We have God's truth, but we also have to deal with much confusion in life. We have God's truth, but some have questions that still cannot be answered in this life. Sometimes, I wonder if having God's Truth at our disposal, convinces us that we have all the answers all the time. If we have all the answers all the time, then where is there room to live by faith?
I recently engaged in a wonderful conversation with someone who asked me, "Why does God allow suffering in the world?" "Why does one child get to be born in the U.S. and live a life of privilege, while another is born in Africa to a life of misery?" "God is the one who determines these things, right, so why would God allow this to happen?" While there are some answers that I could have drawn upon from my education and training in philosophy and theology, at the core I had to say, "I don't know for sure."
Sure, sometimes people can't handle truthful answers to such questions, such as it relating to the glory of God. But another questions is can Christians handle the confusion surrounding such questions? Sometimes our quick anecdotal and less than five minute Christian responses can cheapen the pain and the misery that accompanies the realities behind such questions. Sometimes, I believe, that a quick response by appealing to Truth, is more of an attempt to control another person, whereas, a response of "I don't know for sure." allows us to enter into the pain of such perplexities and harsh realities.
My answer was "I don't know for sure. I have ideas and understanding, but I don't know for sure. If I knew for sure, I guess than I would be God. For now, I have to live by faith and without faith it's impossible to please God. By faith, I know that God is good, that God is faithful and that God is sovereignly in control. I know this by the evidence of Jesus' death on a cross." When my own life is wrought with pain the truth of God's word is indispensable, but faith in God is what ultimately carries me through and allows me to believe in God's Word. Without faith, God's Word in the midst of my perplexities and pain would simply be words on a page. I thank God, for being given faith as well as Truth.
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Thanks, Pastor Brett, for a very insightful post. In all situations, I always want to have the "right" answer. I never want to be wrong. So when I've been in these similar situations as you wrote about here, I put so much pressure on myself to have the "right" answer. And every time, I fail.
ReplyDeleteYou've spoken the obvious truth here. I am not God so therefore I can't even begin to understand (or even imagine) why God does some of the things He does. But what I can come to understand is I need to trust in knowing God is always in control and He is good and He will be glorified in all circumstances.