"Does God enjoy not rescuing me?" My response to a listener.

I have viewed & will review the video on losing faith. I became born again in 1988 thinking my life will turn around. I was always in church praying, fasting ,& taking notes 🎶 (I love singing as well) & I wanted to receive my deliverance/healing.  When you spoke about the Apostle Paul in prison I thought about my life. I was told many times God is able to turn my issues around. 

I lived a concencrated life to my best ability & always fall short. I was brought up in a broken home with an angry father who rejected me. I contracted syphilis  through a same sex encounter & the disease affected me mentally and emotionally. I became born again & it seems things were looking up. Days,weeks, months & years past away & I was unable to complete my education because  of the illness. Now poverty has set in. I prayed every prayer, confessed the Word,bind & loosed, plead the Blood of Jesus & the list goes on. I have gotten temporary breakthroughs & then the attacks return.

I have been in counseling. Does God enjoy not coming to our rescue? I am backslid & not excited about the Bible anymore.

Thank you

Hi Friend,

I’m so sorry to hear of your various losses. I can only imagine the pain of feeling the rejection of your father’s love and acceptance, and the pain of not being healed from your physical disease. I’m also sorry that you’re no longer excited about the Bible.

May I offer a few reflections?

First, I am so glad that you have received counseling. I hope that you continue to do so, especially from one with a Christian worldview (not one who simply says, “Go pray about it,” but one who is educated in great counseling techniques but also operates from within the Christian worldview).

I also wonder about your understanding of what it means to be “born again.” The New Testament view is that to be “born from above/again” (John 3:3) is that the Spirit comes within us to enable us be a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and in-so-doing, among many things, makes us a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), “adopted” as God’s children (Gal 4:5; Rom 8:15), and leads us to live as He wants (e.g., Rom 8; Eph 4:22-24) completely, utterly forgiven for our sins. This is absolutely amazing! There is nothing greater conceivable for humans than to be loved and forgiven for our sins and be freed to live the life of righteousness that God wants. We were all dead in our sins, unable to live the life God designed us to live. With the Spirit, being “born from above/again,” we can finally do it (this idea is throughout the New Testament).

What we don’t find in the New Testament is that becoming a disciple of Jesus means that we get “deliverance” or “healing” from all of our issues in this life. Jesus faced this misunderstanding in His own ministry. There were numerous people He didn’t heal or deliver or rescue. For example, his cousin, John the Prophet and Baptizer, was offended that Jesus hadn’t rescued him from jail for doing the right thing (Matt 11:2-6). Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who isn’t offended at me.” Jesus establishes the reign of God as He sees fit for the Kingdom, which means there will be times that He allows all kinds of suffering. John was eventually killed, not delivered. Instead of despair, we can choose to see our suffering as a time to be strong in the power/strength that Christ supplies by doing life His way (e.g., go read 2 Cor 12:8-10; Rom 8:18; 2 Cor 4). It’s still just as true today as it was when Jesus said it to John centuries ago: we’re blessed when we trust that the way Jesus is establishing His kingdom is best, even when we suffer and don’t think we deserve it. If we stay offended, we’ll just desert Him just like everyone single person did in His ministry. No one went to the cross with Him. They all abandoned Him.

So, is God “able” to heal us from any sickness and disorder? Yes. He is able. Jesus said the same thing in Gethsemane (Mk 14:36). Of course, being “able” doesn’t mean He will, no more than my capacity to do something means I’ll always do it. And this is crucial to understand: God is under no compulsion to do anything for anyone whatsoever. If/when He does something amazing in our lives, it’s a free, awesome gift in His timing and will. Jesus set the precedent, once again, in Gethsemane: being His disciple means that we ask God for His will to be accomplished, no matter what suffering we might wish to avoid.

Therefore, no. I don’t think “God enjoys not coming to our rescue.” Depression might make you feel that. I understand that very much! Nevertheless, it’s false. God does not enjoy pain and suffering.

Finally, I strongly encourage you to trust that God, the Father, Son, and Spirit know perfectly how life is supposed to be lived. God designed life. He’s the Architect. And, since He believes that sexuality is designed to be experienced only within a marriage relationship between a man and woman (Mark 10:6-9), that’s what we should obey. He’s either the Lord or He’s not. We can say that He is our Lord, and not live it. All that matters is if we live it. If we’re not living it, then we’re not “born from above/again.” I can claim that I’m a soldier in the Army, but if I don’t obey my Commanding Officer, then I’m not really in the military. Of course we can fail in our obedience, and praise Jesus we are forgiven!, but my point is: we must surrender every single part of our lives before the Lord so that He transforms all of us. And sometimes, we suffer the natural, logical consequences of sinful behavior in our lives…but, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can choose to live life as He wants and avoid that kind of suffering. If we’re going to suffer, we need to suffer not because we sinned, but because we’re being persecuted for being a Christian (e.g., 1 Pet 3:17).

I pray you get excited about the Bible once more; but, more importantly, I pray that you get excited about the gospel and about what it means to have a love relationship with the risen Jesus! I strongly suspect that your “excitement” will manifest itself much more once you process your grief more. When we’re grieving/depressed, we don’t feel excited about much of anything.

Don’t give up. He’s not done with you.

In Christ,

David