Faith Seeking Understanding

Dear friends,

In this week’s Psalm reading the writer pens, “You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust.” This particular psalm (91:2) is primarily about how God will rescue us when we call upon God.

While this sounds quite encouraging, it is not always the case. King David, who this Psalm is traditionally attributed to, knew this first hand. When his baby son became deathly sick, David prayed and fasted for God to spare his life. Yet, his child still died. (2 Samuel 12)

I’m sure all of us have similar stories to David’s, maybe not as tragic, (or perhaps even more tragic), where we sought God to rescue us from some dilemma, only to find ourselves in the same dilemma.

I was speaking with a parishioner about a particular challenge they have gone through and he/she said, “You know, sometimes we just have to be obedient to the call and understanding will come later. There’s humility in that.”

I’m not sure if they were aware of it or not, but the theologian Anslem wrote something very similar: “ides quaerens intellectum” (faith seeking understanding). It’s this idea that God calls us to believe and we will come to understand later, or we may not in this lifetime (for instance, Moses not going to the promised land, or MLK not witnessing the freedoms gained from the Civil Rights Movement).

We will ultimately find someone or something to place our trust, and inevitably it will let us down. No spouse, career, institution, friend, behavior (healthy or unhealthy) can eternally sustain us, because they are all exhaustible. So, although it may be challenging to trust in God, especially during times of difficulty, and yes, we may even feel let down by God, at least our faith maintains that even death does not have the final say.

In Christ,

Anthony+

*I have his/her permission to share this anonymously.