Have you faced a crisis in your life? Are you currently facing a crisis? Have you experienced a catastrophe? I have. I got an eye infection in 1989 and the AWFULmologists who “treated” me caused me to get a cataract in my mid-thirties and destroyed many of the limbal stem cells on my corneas. Those cells are needed for a healthy cornea. If you get a scratch on your eye, the limbal stem cells will repair it quickly. For me, that can take two-three weeks, and I owe it all to doctors. One of them ignored my chart that said I’m allergic to Sulfa, but one of those doctors prescribed sulfa-based eye drops for me. That damaged my eyes, but I assumed the doctor knew what he was doing. Several months later, another ophthalmologist botched a cataract surgery and I no longer have a usable right eye.

Most Christians have bad things happen to them.

Many Christians have big problems

What has been your experience? Many preachers and authors claim that Christians, if they have enough faith, will not have problems. Is there any biblical evidence for this? No. There isn’t.

The point of the well-known verse, Rom 8:28, “[God] works good in all things for those who love him and are called according to his purpose,” is that God works through our suffering. What are those things? Paul has just been talking about suffering. Paul wouldn’t need to say this if Christians didn’t suffer if they had enough faith.

Paul says nothing there about how much faith one has.The first Christians suffered, not least from persecution. According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside-down. If he didn’t have enough faith to avoid crucifixion, then it’s pretty clear that the idea that having enough faith will save Christians from harm is nonsense, or to quote from that great statesman of our day, Jabba the Hutt, it’s “Bantha fodder.”

Many, in fact, believe that hardship is necessary for us to grow spiritually.

Habakkuk Addresses This Issue

In the Old Testament, there is a group of “Twelve Minor Prophets.” Habakkuk is one of them. He complains to God about the evil others in Judah are doing. God tells the prophet that he is going to solve the difficulty by bringing the Babylonians against Judah. In response, Habakkuk chapter 3 has a prayer by the prophet for facing this coming disaster.

If you are facing a disaster, or want to be ready for a disaster, the book of Habakkuk could be useful to you. You can learn a lot more by subscribing to my newsletter and downloading the booklet there. I have a small booklet on this specific topic. If you’d like to read it, and I hope you do, it is available on my home page at kennethduncanlitwak.com. Your information won’t be shared with anyone–ever!

Please let me know in a comment what you think. I’m seeking to write for your benefit, not my own. Since I can’t read your mind, I need to hear from you to know if my posts are helpful to you.

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