Is that Faith?

“Into the experience of all there come times of keen disappointment and utter discouragement—days when sorrow is the portion, and it is hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of His earthborn children; days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems preferable to life.  It is then that many lose their hold on God and are brought into the slavery of doubt, the bondage of unbelief.  Could we at such times discern with spiritual insight the meaning of God’s providences we should see angels seeking to save us from ourselves, striving to plant our feet upon a foundation more firm than the everlasting hills, and new faith, new life, would spring into being.”  E.G.White, Prophets and Kings, p. 162.

Looking at the troubles that come into the lives of Christians and the Christian response to those trials, I started to wonder about the line between faith and fatalism.  What got me thinking about this was a radio preacher who was talking about King David toward the end of his reign.  The story is in 2 Samuel 15 and 16.  Absalom has staged a coup and has forced David to retreat from Jerusalem.  As he’s moving out with his loyal soldiers the steward of Mephibosheth (Saul’s grandson, who has been being supported by David all these years) meets him with donkeys and food for the journey.  That’s the only bright spot in David’s day though because he finds out from the steward that Mephibosheth is back in Jerusalem in the hopes that Saul’s kingdom will be taken away from David and restored to him.  And then, David comes up to the next town, only to meet a guy named, Shimei who starts throwing rocks at David and his posse.  And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Shimei starts shouting curses at David: 

“’Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!’" 2 Samuel 16:7-8 

At that point, Abishai, one of King David’s men, offers to go over and lop off Shimei’s head. 

“But the king said, ‘What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, “Curse David,'” who can ask, “Why do you do this?”’
“David then said to Abishai and all his officials, ‘My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.  It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.’
 “So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt.” 2 Samuel 16:10-13

When I first heard that, I thought, “That sounds like a man who has completely given up—who just doesn’t care anymore.  And who could blame him?  He had definitely reached a low point.

So how can we tell the difference between “the faith of a child” and fatalism?  Have you met a person who, on the surface, seems to have that complete, unwavering faith in God’s leading, but who really has ceased to take any responsibility for his (or her) own life.  No matter what happens, it was God’s will.  There’s a leak in the roof or a traffic jam on the expressway, but this person is unperturbed.  He’ll say, in a voice like Eeyore’s (Winnie the Pooh’s donkey friend), “Everything happens for a reason.”

Now, I know it’s not my job to decipher where another person is spiritually; that is totally God’s job, and He can have it.  My concern is that I will fall into fatalism and believe that I am resting in faith.  So I’ve spent some time trying to learn the difference between faith and fatalism.

In an essay called “Passivity, the Flip Side of Passion”, pastor Paul Anderson supplies a list of excellent comparisons between faith and fatalism.

“Faith has lips and legs; it makes statements and it takes steps.  Fatalism keeps us from moving anywhere or doing anything-because nothing matters anyway.

"Faith directs us to a preferable future.  Fatalism resigns us to an inferior present.
"Faith says ‘yes’ to the promises of God.  Fatalism says ‘yes’ to whatever blows through.
"Faith lays hold on the future with confidence.  Fatalism embraces the status quo with resignation.
"Faith brings the future to the present.  Fatalism cannot see the future because of the present.
"Faith places us on top of our circumstances.  Fatalism puts us under the circumstances.
"Faith pleases God.  Fatalism offends Him.
"Faith makes obedience essential.  Fatalism makes obedience (or disobedience) inconsequential.
"Faith responds to the faithfulness of God.  Fatalism gives in to a god who is distant and unknowable.
"Faith overcomes in trials; fatalism accepts it condition.
"Faith looks to what can be; fatalism accepts what is.
"Faith moves mountains; fatalism means that we get moved.
"Faith believes the best.  Fatalism accepts one’s fate, even if it is the worst.”

Believe it or not, fatalism is a very comfortable place to be because in that state we have no hopes, no desires, and whatever happens, happens.  Another author talked about this giant, beautifully built dome that the Buddhists built, but they don’t maintain it.  It’s called the stupa and is meant to decay.  The Buddhists teach, “that existence is pain, and like the dome suffers pain and ruin through whatever comes against it.  Ultimately, the goal is to become nothing, which is nirvana.”  Fatalism could be described much the same way.

But that’s not what the Bible says in Romans 8:28-39…or anywhere else for that matter.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
 "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:  ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I don’t know what books you read growing up, but in the ones I read, conquerors were never passive.  They were out there making a difference.  They may not have won every battle, but they never gave up until they got to where they thought they belonged.

Satan would love for us to sit back and let life wash over us, eroding our lives, our spirits and, ultimately, our relationships with Christ, all the while believing that we’re accepting what God has chosen to give us. 

“Man is allotted a part in this great struggle for everlasting life; he must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. It will require a struggle to break through the powers of darkness, but the Spirit that works in him can and will accomplish this. But man is no passive instrument to be saved in indolence. He is called upon to strain every muscle in the struggle for immortality, yet it is God that supplies the efficiency.” E.G.White, Our High Calling (1961), page 91.

As it turns out, David hadn’t given up at all.  He had at least three loyal spies in Jerusalem making sure he knew what Absalom was up to.  He had just learned over the years he spent commanding armies, that some battles are more important than others.  The battle for his throne was important; some guy throwing rocks and dirt at him was not.  Another thing that David had learned was that even though sometimes standing on the sidelines is a whole lot harder than being in the battle (just watch a basketball coach sometime), it’s important to know when to stand and when to fight.  He’d learned to let God tell him which was which.

Are you fighting any battles right now?  Are they the right ones or are you worried about satan throwing rocks and insults?  Are you fighting God and fighting your way closer to Him? 

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’"  Jeremiah 29:11-14

How can you argue with that?  He promises to bring us back from those difficult places and to hear us when we pray.  Amen!

“Now is the winter of our discontent”

Rachel, Leah and Jacob…probably one of the saddest stories in the Bible, don’t you think?  But I just read a couple of things that helped me think of this story from a completely different direction.  Very interesting!

Typically, each person plays an extremely stereotypical role:  Jacob is the love-blinded hero, just trying to do his best with the cards he’d been dealt; Rachel is the tragic love interest who cries a lot and dies young; and Leah plays the evil step-sister (ala Cinderella) by flaunting her blessings in front of poor Rachel.

But look at the story from the perspective of a gentleman named Richard L. Strauss (not the composer).  He’s a Christian author who has written a book called, Living in Love: Secrets from Bible Marriages, that covers thirteen important couples of the Bible.  Sound familiar?  Anyway, he has an extremely interesting take on the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah.

(You can find the complete book, along with many of his other books, as well as a bunch of other interesting stuff, for free at bible.org)

To start things off, Mr. Strauss compares Rachel and Jacob’s initial relationship to that of the football hero and homecoming queen—that is, based on physical attraction and not much else.  The only salvation for the relationship at all was the enforced seven year engagement that forced them to get to know each other.  He also includes something that I’ve always felt:  that Leah really loved Jacob and that’s why she went along with Laban’s plan.  Imagine how she must have felt when she heard Jacob yelling at Laban about being tricked.  Ouch!

Now, something I’d never thought of before was that maybe God’s best will for Jacob was to be married to Leah only and that he should have accepted the trick as God’s will. But, Jacob being Jacob, he was going to get what he wanted no matter what it cost anybody.  Hm.  Something to think about.

It is under the stressful situation of a two wife household Strauss believes that Rachel’s true nature begins to show.  So, here’s Rachel who has been the favored daughter, the favored wife, the beauty of the family, wealthy and she tells Jacob, “Give me children or else I die.”  Genesis 30:1  According to Strauss, this is Rachel’s way of saying, if I can’t have what I want, when I want it, I’d rather be dead.  Never mind that Jacob was willing to work fourteen years to be allowed to marry her, she wanted what Leah had—children. 

The spirit of discontent governed Rachel’s life and, probably, made the people around her miserable as well.  Even when Rachel has a son, she names him ‘Joseph’ which means “may he add” and says “May the Lord give me another son.”  Genesis 30:24

“A beggar standing on a street corner commented to his friends, ‘“If only I had a hundred dollars, I would never complain again.’  A businessman walking by over heard his statement and interrupted the conversation.
“’Excuse me,’ the man said.  ‘Did you say if you had a hundred dollars, you would never complain again?’
“The beggar replied, ‘You heard right, mister.’
The man pulled out his wallet, handed him one hundred dollars, and said, ‘I’m glad I can have a small part in bringing happiness to the world.’
After the man walked away, the beggar turned to his friends and remarked, ‘I wish I had asked for two hundred dollars!’”  Kent Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint

So, what does it mean to be discontent?  From the dictionary I get this definition:  “a restless desire or craving for something one does not have” and these synonyms: “uneasiness, inquietude, restlessness, and displeasure”.

At the same time, though, we have to be very careful to separate “good” discontent from “bad” discontent.  The “good” kind is what triggers motivation toward change and better things.  But the “bad” kind, well, it’s the basis for every sin, war, murder, or whatever other bad thing you can think of.  For example, why did Lucifer fight with God?  He had become discontent or dissatisfied with his place in the Heavenly hierarchy.   Why did Eve take the fruit?  Why did Cain kill Abel?  Why did Hitler invade Poland?

Guy R. Finnie classifies discontent as “carnal” and “spiritual”.  He defines “carnal discontent” as a person who is completely involve in himself (or herself).  This kind of discontent grows out of covetousness, craving what someone else has, even if what we have ourselves is actually better.

Satan has made sure that society today is built almost exclusively on creating discontentment.  What else is advertising?  If the advertiser shows us enough times that we can’t be happy if we don’t use a particular brand of some product, then we begin to believe that the advertiser is right.

Look at some of the books we read and the movies and shows we watch.  A lot of them center around beautiful men and women with lots of money falling in love, never doing housework, not needing a job, and living happily ever after.  If we look at that kind of life enough, even though it’s imaginary, it can make our lives seem pretty drab and unhappy.  We become discontented with the way we’re living.  As a consequence, we overspend, we hate our jobs, our marriages end, and we want maids to do the housework.  In fact, we become very, very unhappy with what God has given us.  We start thinking more about ourselves and how to get happier, and that’s just not the way Jesus wants us to live.  “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5

Read this fable by Jackie McCune:

The Silver Shoes

Once, before this, in the Town of Discontent, lived a little boy named Saad.  Now Discontent was not always the name of the town; it was once known as Pleasant.  It was an unusual town because everyone who lived there always wore silver shoes.  You see, there was a shoemaker in Pleasant who made silver shoes for everyone and all he ever charged was a smile.The silver shoes were unusual because they never wore out.  Another unusual thing about them was that they were always the right size no matter how big the people’s feet were.  Whenever a new baby was born in Pleasant the parents would take the baby to the shoemaker and he would make a pair of beautiful silver shoes.  Somehow, as the baby grew, so did the shoes.But one day, another shoemaker came to Pleasant.  He opened his shop right next door to the maker of the silver shoes.“Come and try on MY beautiful shoes, he called to the people as they walked by his shop.  “They are gold and they have jewels that glisten like all the colors of the rainbow.”The people of Pleasant thought the shoes were indeed very beautiful.  Why, some pairs even had three or four jewels on each shoe!  Everyone rushed into the new shoe shop to buy shoes, but when they smiled at the new shoemaker and started to leave, he said, “That will be $10.00 please.”“The old shoemaker only charges a smile,” they said.“But his shoes all look alike,” the new shoemaker said.  “That’s true,” the people would say, and then they would pay the $10.00, take their shoes and rush home to try them on.Now when Saad was born, the town was still called the Town of Pleasant and Saad was named Happy.  True to his name, he was a happy little boy.“Lets take him to the NEW shoemaker,” said his mother.  “I like all the pretty jewels he puts on the shoes he makes; see how mine sparkle?”“Ten dollars is a lot of money,” said his father.  “But if that’s what you want, we will get them for Happy.”They took Happy to the new shoe shop and he was fitted with a beautiful pair of gold shoes with red and blue jewels.  But a few months later they were too tight and Happy began to cry because his shoes hurt his feet.“I don’t have $10.00 to buy another pair right now,” said his father.“But he must have shoes,” cried his mother.His father thought for a moment, “Well, we do have the money we saved for his new bed.  We could use some of that.”So back they went to the new shoe shop.  But when another few months had gone by, the second pair of shoes was too small, and Happy was not happy, because his feet were hurting again.“We must go back to the old shoemaker,” said his father.When they came to the place where the old shoemaker had been, the shop was empty.“Oh!” exclaimed his mother, “What will we do?”“There is nothing we can do,” answered his father.  “We have no money to buy from the new shoemaker and now the old shoemaker is gone.  Our son will have to be without shoes; and so shall we, for our shoes are wearing thin and it will not be long before we will have to throw them away.All the other families in Pleasant found themselves with the same problem for they too had been attracted by the sparkling shoes and, because no one came for the silver shoes anymore, the old shoemaker had moved on to another town.And so it was that the Town of Pleasant became the Town of Discontent and Happy became Saad.

And then there’s this to think about:

“There should be less anxiety for external appearances, but more earnest effort to secure practical comfort in every room throughout the house. … more time devoted to the training of the children, to the preparation of simple, wholesome food, and to the general economy and comfort of the household, would make happy hearts and pleasant faces in the home. … There should be less display of superficial politeness and affection toward strangers and visitors, and more of the courtesy that springs from genuine love and sympathy toward the dear ones of our own firesides.
 “…But it is so flattering to the pride of some persons to exhibit a certain extravagant and fashionable style of living for the benefit of occasional guests, that they are willing to sacrifice the peace and comfort of the household for this empty gratification. … They have no connection with the real joys of life; they interfere with domestic quiet, and unfit the mind for the homely but pleasant duties of practical life.“…Decorations of dress and houses do not make people happy; but the lowliest dwelling may be beautified, and the poorest family be made rich, by the possession of meekness, kindness and love. Pleasant voices, gentle manners, and sincere affection that finds expression in all the actions, together with industry, neatness, and economy, make even a hovel the happiest of homes. The Creator regards such a home with approbation; and the inmates, though they have not "that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, and of putting on of apparel," have that which is far better.-- "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.""’Godliness with contentment is great gain.’ It is ‘profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.’ We should open our hearts and houses to the Lord. …It refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and brings peace of mind, and in the end, everlasting life. {ST, October 2, 1884}