Throughout life, you encounter problems. In fact, you're bombarded with problems everyday. As individuals, we try to deal with these problems ourselves. But we're still human and it's very easy for things to get out of control. Before you know it, you're under a sea of worries, dealing with more than you can handle.
One of the services that I went to talked about deriving strength from God. The message from the pastor was that running around aimlessly trying to solve all the problems you encounter was an ineffective way to go about things.
He talked about a piece of string, which by itself is fairly weak but if you entwine two pieces together, the result is stronger than a single piece of string. It follows that, since a piece of string can derive strength from another piece to become stronger, an individual can put his hope in God, entwine his weaknesses with God's strength and derive strength from Him.
My question is when is it appropriate to ask God for strength? It seems pretty silly to say, "I don't have enough change to pay for my latte. Please God, give me the strength to get through this." Some would say that you just suck it up and move on.
But where is the line drawn and it becomes appropriate to look towards God? What about the case of a failed relationship? Most would not look twice if someone looked towards God to deal with a break up. However, I am from the school of thought that you just deal with it and move on. In fact, I feel there's very little that you cannot just deal with and move on. A death of loved one, a diagnosis of a deadly illness, etc.
That's just me, though. And, more importantly, my outlook seems to be in direct contrast with the Christian train of thought. Is it wrong to believe that you should look inside for strength? If it's not, then where is the line drawn and you should look towards God? Am I unable to have faith because I have never felt the need to ask for help?
First up, my personal faith is: I never ask God for strength, support, help, etc. That's where I drew the line. But I've also come across Christians "asking" God for things, and tried to sort out what they really mean. Sometimes it's not too clear...
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you've heard the phrase "God will provide". I've heard it before, and it initially sounds horribly self-centered. It sounds like "I don't have to do anything - God will provide that extra 25c I need for my latte".
I discussed it with someone close to me, and found out that's not necessarily how the phrase is meant to be interpreted. God may "provide" you a quick kick in the teeth rather than that iPod you want. The "faith" of the speaker is that God will provide what the person needs, in some non-subjective sense. It is a Christian way of saying "I trust my fate to God". Their "faith" is that everything will be alright, even if their material situation is looking very bad right now.
In a way, that answers your question. Can you have faith without asking for help from God? You sure can. You can have faith that he's already giving you everything you need. Is that anti-Christian or non-Christian? I don't think so.
Of course, this doesn't answer the question "should you ask for anything?". Just "can you have Christian faith without asking for anything?".