We experience times of unusual closeness, when every prayer is answered
in an obvious way and God seems intimate and care. And we also experience
"FOG TIMES" when God stays silent, when nothing works according to formula
and all the Bible promises seem glaring false. Fidelity involves learning to
trust that, out beyond the perimeter of fog. God still reigns and has not
abandoned us, no matter how it may appear.
The most perplexing times may help "fertilize" faith and nurture intimacy
with God. The deepest faith, is called fidelity, sprouts at a point of
contradiction, like a blade of grass between stones. Human nature needs
problems, more than solutions: persistent prayer, and fasting, and study,
and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes.
Faith like Job's cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been
shaken. Faith toughen through testing. We have little comprehension of what
our faith means to God. God himself expresses his longing for love. - Like a
father starved for some response - Like a jilted lover who, against all
reasons, gives his faithless beloved one more chance.
Faith is our most powerful weapon. When God seems absent, he may be closest
of all, the suffering that afflicts our lives are so real and so significant
to God that he wills to share them and endure them.
BREATHE!