A few months ago, a well-known and well-respected actor died prematurely from an apparent drug overdose.
His past struggles with addiction were well-documented, and so while his untimely passing was shockingly sad, it wasn’t all that surprising.
I’d shared a link to the story of the actor’s death, commenting on the tragic toll of drug abuse, and the senseless waste of this young life. Amid the comments expressing sadness and condolences, were some words from a fellow believer. To paraphrase, they went something like this:
“Addiction is indeed terrible and strong, but God is stronger, and He will save you if you call on Him.”
On the surface, the well-meaning words sound like a simple, encouraging invitation to bring our pain to God, however they troubled me greatly, when I realized that they subtly did a couple really dangerous things.
– They assumed that the actor was not a Christian, and had never asked God for help with his addiction. (I have no knowledge of whether this was the case or not).
– They implied that everyone who asks God for deliverance from such things, receives it every time. (Yet we know that simply isn’t true).
There’s a pervasive lie that many people who follow Jesus inadvertently or intentionally sell out there to the non-Christian world: that faith, real faith, should somehow result in a life free from difficulty; one with sweet, clean, happy resolutions to every struggle.
But the story of our collective lives yields a very different truth:
Sometimes devoted Christians, overwhelmed with depression and anxiety, commit suicide.
Jesus followers; faithful, authentic, loving ones, do overdose on alcohol and drugs.
Countless people of great faith, pray their entire lives for physical healing, and do not receive it.
Thousands of good-hearted Christians die every day, never slaying their demons on this side of the grave.
Since Jesus walked the planet, millions of God-loving people have called upon Him to bring healing, or relief, or freedom from all kinds of burdens and brokenness, and yet He simply didn’t provide it, at least in the way they asked.
Does that mean that God wasn’t real, that He wasn’t present, that He wasn’t listening, or that their faith wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t deep enough to merit God’s action?
I’m willing to give an emphatic “No”, to all of the above.
We have to be careful not to paint a picture of Jesus for people, that makes Him into something He’s not; a sure-fire, sure-thing, problem-solver.
We need to avoid easy words, that turn Christianity into an All-Access Pass to Prosperity, or that measures someone’s faith by their circumstances.
Yes, when we call upon God, He always hears. Yes, He is always present in the pain, and yet, sometimes He chooses, for whatever reason, not to heal, or fix, or save.
If you lost someone you loved and prayed for, and you carry the weight of worry that you didn’t pray hard enough: be released from that.
If you question the faith of those who have lost battles with addiction, and with physical or mental illness simply because they lost: repent of that.
If you see God’s presence only in the miraculous hearings and happy endings: rethink that.
Romans 10:13 promises that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”, but that assurance speaks to eternal destination, not current condition.
God is always, always present in the painful, even when the pain lingers.
God’s goodness is true, even when good days seem to allude us.
And He always comes, even when He doesn’t come through.
