Let’s go… Slaho!

Blind faith stinks. No, don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here… it is good to have faith, and blind faith is its purest form. But being in a position where you must have faith blindly is REALLY difficult, almost impossible, and unfortunately can really test a person. So HAVING blind faith is a great thing (particularly if its in someone that deserves it like, I don’t know, GOD, maybe?) but finding a way to achieve it really stinks.

I am currently in a situation that calls for blind faith. We are reaching a crossroads in our life (Dania and I are) and we know that some tough decisions have to be made. We have taken the first steps, and now are waiting for God to step in and lead us in the right direction. We know that trusting in him will allow us to get through this particular hardship, but how and when this situation passes or is resolved is beyond us. Now don’t start worrying about us too much… this is not something that is tearing us apart, nor is it something related to our health, or bringing another child into our lives (please, God, four is enough… don’t get any ideas here, OK?). This just has to do with decisions that will help shape the future for our family. We’re just not sure what the best decision is right now.

As I said we already took a step in a direction. The question is which step should I take next. Not only that, but when do I get to make my next step. Am I supposed to make the next step and the next and the next until God jumps in? Or is this a “game” where we take turns working together until we wind up at our destination. I don’t know!! I don’t want to force my hand because that may mean I am trying to force my will on the situation. Then again I also believe that we must do our part and not leave all the work to God, so how do I reach the right balance?

Well, there are precedents as to how I am supposed to act, but man, neither seems too easy to follow. Let me go through these two scenarios.

#1. Abraham and Isaac. We all know this story. Abraham was told by God that he would be the father of many nations when the guy was already an old geezer. Much to his old wife’s chagrin, she got pregnant and had a son after having already gone through menopause. This was definitely a miracle! So what happens? When this one child turns approximately twelve or so, God asks Adam to sacrifice this one child of his… just kill him. Obviously, this is the link to all these many nations that God told him about, but now He wants him gone? Now here’s where the blind faith comes in… Abraham does what his Lord tells him and goes off with his son to sacrifice him, not bothering to tell his son exactly what he’s going to do. When his son DOES ask where the sacrifice will be coming from Abraham simply tells him, “God will provide.” Abraham goes to the extent that he ties up his son, pulls out the knife and prepares to kill his son before God steps in through an angel telling him that he passed the test. He then sends him a ram that was caught in the thicket close by as the new sacrificial lamb. Wow, talk about seeing something through to the very end, just to get the desired result!! Abraham of course didn’t want to kill his son, but was willing to do whatever his Lord asked him. And in showing that God came first he got what he wanted… to keep his son. Is this what God is looking for us to do? See our situation through, and then he’ll provide what we need in the end? Or is it more like scenario #2?

#2. Jesus and the cross. So Jesus just had his last supper with his friends and was now in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew what was coming, and was not exactly thrilled about it (much like Abraham, but I’m sure to a greater degree). Jesus got on his hands and knees and began to pray to God to spare Him of what was coming. He did NOT want to go through this… BUT He will, if that is what His Father wanted of Him. He was going to see this thing through all the way to the end. And He did. Except the ending here was different. There was no “second lamb” lying around this time. Jesus was going to be the sacrifice Himself this time. So, in the end, God’s will was different than the ill of the Man. (Now, I already hear people out there who are reading this saying… this is different, because Jesus is God, to which my reply is… don’t underestimate his humanity, nor deny it. Denying his 100% humanity would destroy everything we believe about Him… I’ll discuss that later whether in this blog or my next.)

So, now we see that there are two distinct scenarios. In one case we wind up with what we wanted all along. In the other, we get the exact opposite of what we want. That would stink! Now, knowing both stories we know that in BOTH cases there is a happy ending. The problem is that through the second scenario, the one where we don’t get what we want, we need to go through “death” before the happy ending finally arrives. It is this fear of the unknown that makes blind faith so difficult. We have to find a way to work with God while stepping out of His way when it is his turn to work and trust in the end that all will come out OK. But what if the initial result is not what we hoped for? Then we must believe that God has something better for us beyond the horizon, much like Jesus had something waiting for Him much greater than this human life… eternal life glorified at the right hand of His Father.

But, how would we know which path is awaiting us? We won’t. Not until it’s all over anyway, and if the second scenario comes in to play we must have faith that what we “died to” is just a path to a better situation, but only after dealing with “death” for our “3 days” however long those days are. But it seems that you have to be some kind of a special person to have this kind of faith. What if we come up short? Well, there’s good news for us there too. There is a precedent for that too.

Shortly after Jesus died and resurrected, all of His apostles had seen Him but one, Thomas. He had been informed of Jesus’ return, but he had a tough time believing. I don’t think that he didn’t WANT to believe. It was just difficult for him to believe that Jesus would be present in the way his friends were telling him (much the same way we have a tough time believing God could be present helping us in the way we need Him to when we are going through rough times). Well, there was no convincing him that Jesus was present and alive, not unless he got to see him alive and in person. Well, we know what happened. Jesus appeared to the apostles, this time with Thomas present, and Thomas’ doubt subsided. The catch was that he had to see Him personally for his faith to kick in. This wasn’t blind faith. He needed proof. Fortunate for him, he got the proof he needed.

And that gets back to us. We’re having trouble with this blind faith thing. And it’s not like we don’t WANT to have it. It’s just difficult to put faith into something not knowing what the result is going to be, with the knowledge that we may not get what we want. And sure in the end we will probably come out better, but when and what will it be? But at least we know that this struggle is not new. One of Jesus’ own friends had this same struggle. And here’s the best part, despite his struggle, he was able to overcome it. He is now seen as one of the fathers of our Church and a Saint to look to as an example. Maybe this is someone we could look to as an example of the struggle we are going through so that he can help us see the risen Lord working with us in our little adventure. Let’s see how it goes. It appears that we are looking forward to a long drawn out process. Hopefully we could see it through without letting our will get in the way, and in the end hopefully God’s grace will lead us to where He wants us to be.

So, in the meantime, just pray for us. Hopefully we will be ready for whatever comes our way.

(BTW, at some point during this blog, the TV went out in the family room because the power strip blew… so I let the boys come watch TV behind me… from that point on concentrating with the noise and the giggling was a bit difficult as was keeping my train of thought. Still, I continued b/c leaving and starting up again later would have completely ENDED my train of thought. Look to see if you could figure out when I was interrupted. QUIZ: Results later!)

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under Just thinking.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.