?
....
Guest
“You didn’t have enough faith”.
All too often, I have either heard this said to others, or I have heard it recounted to me: in a congregation, someone will be praying for something they need (i.e. financial help, a health issue, concern for a family member, etc. But when the expected outcome does not happen, they are told that they “didn’t have enough faith”.
Whether it is this situation, or another where prayer is not answered the way we want it to be, it is all too easy for us to assume that the one asking “didn’t have enough faith.” It is the belief (more along the lines of “group-think”) that of hardship and suffering have entered your life as an unbeliever that the person having troubles must have done something evil to bring on such “divine punishment”.
However, Scripture recounts an instance of this amongst Jesus’ own disciples, and Jesus’ rebuke to them:
"As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” (John 9:1-12, NASB)
Jesus informed His disciples that neither the man nor his family had sinned, as they had assumed. In telling them this, Jesus made the point that not every affliction was a punishment and that to assume so automatically was ignoring that there were other circumstances at work here. In this case: God had allowed it for His power to be demonstrated.
Let’s take a look at another instance; this time, when the outcome the disciples expected did NOT come when they tried to cast a demon out of a young boy:
“When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. [“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”] And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.” (Matthew 17:14-23, NASB)
There are going to be times when prayer is not answered in the way that we would want it to be. It doesn’t mean we lacked faith, nor does it mean we sinned somehow.
Affliction does NOT equal punishment; there may be other things at issue in the situation.
The boy was not described as having “sinned” and thus being afflicted by a demon, and the father readily admitted to the Lord “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24, NASB). Such an admission indicates that the man knew he had small faith, but that he did believe.
What we see here is God working in this to demonstrate His power, with Jesus Christ showing that He had dominion and authority to drive out evil spirits. God used this to teach something very important, but sadly, too many miss the message and focus on “little faith”. And that’s tragic, because the message in this is that the Lord does care about us and our needs, and that He wants us to trust in Him. But that trust has to recognize that He is sovereign, and will sometimes do things that we may not understand. Because we are not eternal and do not have His perspective, it can make it very hard for us to understand.
Finally, in this sin-cursed, sin filled world, folks are going to make wrong choices that will impact others. God has given man free will, but unfortunately, people use that freedom to choose poorly. An example are children, where Scripture tells us to “raise a child up in the way they should go”, but children end up doing poorly and going their own way. It’s important to recognize that we can do everything we should, but while we can influence the decisions of another, it is ultimately up to them what they do. How this young man ended up so cursed isn’t spoken of, and indeed, he may not have done anything wrong in the first place! But it is entirely possible he was cursed by someone else, who made bad choices in their lifetime.
My point here is: we can end up suffering not because we did something wrong, but because of something not within our control. Affliction does not necessarily equate with sin, but can either be a result of the choices of other, or the effects of this sin-cursed, sin-filled world.
With all this said, the “faith-meter” is best left where it belongs...
...on the scrap-heap of time.
YBIC,
-Sojo414
All too often, I have either heard this said to others, or I have heard it recounted to me: in a congregation, someone will be praying for something they need (i.e. financial help, a health issue, concern for a family member, etc. But when the expected outcome does not happen, they are told that they “didn’t have enough faith”.
Whether it is this situation, or another where prayer is not answered the way we want it to be, it is all too easy for us to assume that the one asking “didn’t have enough faith.” It is the belief (more along the lines of “group-think”) that of hardship and suffering have entered your life as an unbeliever that the person having troubles must have done something evil to bring on such “divine punishment”.
However, Scripture recounts an instance of this amongst Jesus’ own disciples, and Jesus’ rebuke to them:
"As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” (John 9:1-12, NASB)
Jesus informed His disciples that neither the man nor his family had sinned, as they had assumed. In telling them this, Jesus made the point that not every affliction was a punishment and that to assume so automatically was ignoring that there were other circumstances at work here. In this case: God had allowed it for His power to be demonstrated.
Let’s take a look at another instance; this time, when the outcome the disciples expected did NOT come when they tried to cast a demon out of a young boy:
“When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. [“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”] And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.” (Matthew 17:14-23, NASB)
There are going to be times when prayer is not answered in the way that we would want it to be. It doesn’t mean we lacked faith, nor does it mean we sinned somehow.
Affliction does NOT equal punishment; there may be other things at issue in the situation.
The boy was not described as having “sinned” and thus being afflicted by a demon, and the father readily admitted to the Lord “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24, NASB). Such an admission indicates that the man knew he had small faith, but that he did believe.
What we see here is God working in this to demonstrate His power, with Jesus Christ showing that He had dominion and authority to drive out evil spirits. God used this to teach something very important, but sadly, too many miss the message and focus on “little faith”. And that’s tragic, because the message in this is that the Lord does care about us and our needs, and that He wants us to trust in Him. But that trust has to recognize that He is sovereign, and will sometimes do things that we may not understand. Because we are not eternal and do not have His perspective, it can make it very hard for us to understand.
Finally, in this sin-cursed, sin filled world, folks are going to make wrong choices that will impact others. God has given man free will, but unfortunately, people use that freedom to choose poorly. An example are children, where Scripture tells us to “raise a child up in the way they should go”, but children end up doing poorly and going their own way. It’s important to recognize that we can do everything we should, but while we can influence the decisions of another, it is ultimately up to them what they do. How this young man ended up so cursed isn’t spoken of, and indeed, he may not have done anything wrong in the first place! But it is entirely possible he was cursed by someone else, who made bad choices in their lifetime.
My point here is: we can end up suffering not because we did something wrong, but because of something not within our control. Affliction does not necessarily equate with sin, but can either be a result of the choices of other, or the effects of this sin-cursed, sin-filled world.
With all this said, the “faith-meter” is best left where it belongs...
...on the scrap-heap of time.
YBIC,
-Sojo414
