by Steven Koch

Created on: February 08, 2010

Faith can be a fragile thing. It is something that gets tested every day. Those who have lost their faith may wonder if God is really with us at all times. They wonder if He has abandoned us or even if He really exists. It is much easier to lose your faith when you are going through difficult times than it is to keep it. Yet, there is one overall reason for people to drift away from faith – they are not receiving what they believe they deserve.

Most people believe they are good. We all try to do the right thing, but being human we often fall short of our and others expectations. With the belief that we are good comes an expectation that good things, and only good things should happen to us. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Sometimes bad things happen to us through no fault of our own. Other times these bad things are a result of previous actions on our part. While it may be easier to accept if our actions have caused us pain, those events – the “acts of God” that happen to us or just simple bad luck is more difficult to accept. We wonder if God is punishing us for something we did or didn’t do. We find ourselves asking the same question over and over again – why?

Those who believe in God will most likely pray during those times of trouble. We may pray for ourselves or for others. While God does answer all prayers, sometimes the answer is “no”. There is a reason God says no, but we may not see it and as a result become frustrated and impatient with God as well as with others who may try to comfort us with platitudes like “life is hard” or “God never gives us more than we can handle”. We don’t understand why our request has been denied. We may even turn away from God and decide to move out on our own; more willing to depend on our own abilities than wait for God to step in and help us.

God has his eye on a picture larger than we can imagine. His time frame is not ours and while he cares for each of us sometimes we need to trust that God has given us the talent and abilities to make it through those hard times. Maybe the reason God says no is because he has already given us what we need – in effect He’s already said yes, but we just weren’t listening.

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