How Faith Backfires
Excerpt from Hosea 10:1-15
"Because you have trusted in your power…the tumult of war shall rise against your people."
Reflection by William C. Green
It's tempting to think that with God's help I can succeed where otherwise I'd fail. With God's help I can get rid of a bad habit; with God's help I can forgive someone who has hurt me; with God's help, I can save my marriage.
Faith can inspire overconfidence. When things don't work out the way that, with God's help, we devoutly desired, we become disillusioned and feel more overwhelmed than ever.
What counts is not what we have the power to do with God's help, but what God can do with our help. If the focus is not on me but on God, then my preconceptions about what's needed may be challenged. Giving up a bad habit may be less important right now than acquiring a new habit, like getting more exercise. Being more forgiving may be something I need to leave in God's hands because my feelings can't change right now just because they should―even with God's help. And what if my marriage is meant to dissolve? Why am I trying to save it?
We can make things worse by trying to make them better. Our idealism can be self-serving. We help God help us when we make the time to pray, talk with others of faith, and learn from the Bible about a power that offers possibility different than we had imagined.
Prayer
God, what I want is not always what you want for me. May I be open to something different than I have in mind. Amen.
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