A Failing Faith At The Holidays

I love the hope and expectation that sets apart the advent season. The story of a virgin birth in a humble stable holds so much promise and mystery. As a result, we spend our days not only celebrating the Savior’s birth but also storing in our hearts the promise of deliverance.

However not everyone is rejoicing. In a world marred by sin and brokenness it’s not surprising to find that many are struggling with a failing faith this Christmas season. Indeed, for some, this is a season marked by hopelessness.

In the darkest hour, when I cannot breathe fear is on my chest, the weight of the world on me. Everything’s crashing down, everything I have known. When I wonder if I’m all alone. (Remember, Lauren Daigle)                                                          

It can be hard to see His provision in a season marked by loss and suffering. Click To Tweet

In Michigan, the air is crisp and the remnants of an early November snowfall are still clinging to the ground in small patches. Thanksgiving looms ahead and it’s easy to give in to the early strains of Christmas music. Heaven knows that I’ve long since succumbed to the lure of skinny pumpkin spice lattes. The Christmas cards are ready to mail and if there were only enough minutes in the day, our tree would be ready to greet our Thanksgiving guests.

A Failing Faith

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, while I am counting my blessings, entire communities are destroyed and authorities are keeping another sort of count.

The death toll from the “Camp Fire” in Northern California increased to 76 on Saturday, while the number of people unaccounted for increased to 1,276. The blaze is now 55 percent contained after consuming more than 149,000 acres. In Southern California, just outside of Los Angeles, the Woolsey Fire is 82 percent contained after burning 98,362 acres.

(Sunday. November 18, 2018; CBSNews.com)

I believe in the midst of counting our blessings and planning our turkey dinners, that we must choose to be present. We can choose to be mindful of the evidence of loss and suffering around us. And, as followers of Christ, our decision to be more like Jesus includes seeking out the family, and friends struggling with a failing faith this holiday season.

Jesus calls us to minister to one another. How will you encourage those with a failing faith? Click To Tweet

What Happens When We Lose It All?

In the book of Job we read the story of a man enjoying the abundant blessings of God; it appears even too many to count. Scripture tells us that “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.” (Job 1|3) The Lord, in describing Job, said “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright; a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1|8)

But in the blink of an eye, this great and blameless man loses everything. His children, servants, and livestock are all taken from him. And finally, he is afflicted physically — his health taken from him.

What is the response to this sudden suffering and loss?

Job wishes he’d never been born.

May the day of my birth perish, and the nigh that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’ That day – may it turn to darkness; may God above not car about it; may no light shine on it. May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

(Job 3|3-5)

He asks that his days would end quickly.

“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!”

(Job 6|8)

Job was a man struggling with a failing faith.

On The Fringe Of A Failing Faith

It’s natural and even good to struggle with questions of faith; it’s been my experience that those struggles often lead to greater ownership of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And, if our minds were so neatly able to discern and process the workings of our Heavenly Creator, I might question whether we had oversimplified the wonder that is His creation.

What happens though, when a friend or family member isn’t just dealing with questions of faith but also appears to be clinging to a failing faith? The advent season provides the perfect backdrop for a grand collision between the hope of the Christ and the harsh realities of a broken world. What do we do when the loss and suffering seem insurmountable; and our loved one, like Job, just wishes God would bring an end to it all? What do we say when they admit they’re not so sure of their faith anymore; they’re not so sure of what or if they believe?

How To Help A Failing Faith

1. Maintain calm. Now is not the time to freak out and then break out the flannel-gram. Don’t try to provide them with 101 Reasons Why They Must Believe in God. Instead, provide a safe place for them to share, talk, and process the thoughts that they are struggling with.
2. Bite your tongue. Leave the lectures at home. But, if ever you were to ask for the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit – now is the time to do so. Pray that it would be God’s words and attitude that cross your lips and not your own as you spend time together. Seek wisdom and understanding before you spend time talking with your friend, and refrain from trying to ‘argue’ them back into their faith.
3. Pray with them and for them. Don’t wimp out in the area of prayer. When Paul describes the Armor of God in the book of Ephesians, he admonishes us to pray always and this theme is repeated throughout scripture. Prayer is a powerful tool.
4. Love – even when it gets hard. Whether we do it consciously or not, I think many of us have the tendency to avoid people struggling with issues that are messy or uncomfortable to talk about. Resist the urge to do this. Don’t shun them because the questioning of their beliefs feels like a questioning of your own. Our faith, our God, is strong enough to stand up to whatever questions they might have.
5. Be a guide. You cannot resolve the issues of suffering and loss that they are dealing with; however, you can point them to those that can. Encourage your friend or loved one to speak to their pastor. Refer them to organizations dealing with grief and loss and encourage them to seek out a licensed professional to help deal with other issues, including depression or anxiety, that they might be dealing with.
6. Remind them. Remind them that they have not been abandoned by God. It’s easy to understand, in the midst of hardship, why some wonder where God is. Remind them of examples throughout scripture where God’s people experience hardship and how God time and time again redeems and shapes these individuals through the difficulties and loss they encounter. Remind them how Jesus shares that hardship is almost guaranteed to Christians but that they are not left defenseless.

You are not hidden. There’s never been a moment You were forgotten. You are not hopeless.

Though You have been broken, Your innocence stolen.

I hear You whisper underneath Your breath. I hear your S.O.S., your S.O.S.

I will send out an army to find You in the middle of the darkest night. It’s true, I will rescue you.

There is no distance that cannot be covered over and over. You’re not defenseless. I’ll be Your shelter, I’ll be Your armor.

I hear You whisper underneath Your breath. I hear your S.O.S., your S.O.S.

(Rescue, Lauren Daigle)