“Deeply the Christian believes that beneath all the flux and change of this mortal life, God is seeking to work out a profound purpose.”—W.E. Sangster

     Every man of faith is convinced that God moves in his life. And the more profound is one’s faith, the stronger is the belief that everything that happens is somehow, some way a part of the greater plan of God in his life. That does not exclude pain and setbacks. The man of faith understands and accepts that as he walks the long and winding road of life. He is convinced that God walks with Him, leading him and guiding him through good days and bad days.

     It is easy enough to accept this when all is going well and you are on a winning streak that is marked by a great measure of happiness and success. When, however, there is a change of fortune and disappointment and even despair set in, trusting in God’s leadership is something else again. Believing that there is real purpose to the pain can create a crisis of faith. You might be tempted to abandon God’s ways and strike out on your own. You might get discouraged and get tired of God’s mysterious workings in your life.

     If there is something that we cannot handle very well, it is the unknown. When we cannot make sense of what is happening to us, we start to get crazy. And when we cannot make sense about what God is up to in our lives, we tend to give up thinking He still walks with us. Instead, we start believing that He has either abandoned us and is upset with us, or, maybe He simply has stopped caring for us.

     Intellectually if we have faith we know that is nonsense. We are, however, human, and feelings are very much part of our humanity. A conflict erupts between our feelings and what we believe. And if our feelings run away from us, we will run with them and be carried away by them. They will undermine our faith. Once this happens to the man of faith, he feels lost. His deepest meaning, his inner beliefs break loose from their anchor his faith.

     When we pray to God to increase our faith, what we really mean is for Him to strengthen our ability to handle pain and setbacks. Rarely will we have difficulty dealing with happiness and success. It is the hurt, the betrayals, the smashed expectations and the reversals that challenge our faith. If we are to “keep the faith,” as they say, we need to prepare ourselves for the dark days that will, sooner or later, come our way.