No Doubt, Life is Hard

By Brian Lawson

It isn’t very often that Christians and atheists agree. That is certainly what I've noticed when these two groups discuss religious matters. The funny thing is that it isn’t always the observable facts that are the objects of disagreement, but rather it is the interpretations of facts that are in dispute. It is the whole ideology, or world-view, within a person that leads them to identify meaning in things observed.

No doubt, many persons will agree with me when I say that life is hard. It appears to be an observable fact that life is full of hardship – something that both skeptics and Christians can agree on. Realizing not all will agree with "observations" in general, I know from my own experience there are periods in life when it is easy to overlook life’s difficulties. Sometimes I’ve been floating on a cloud of good experiences, or some sort of excitement from receiving a significant "blessing", and have been naïve about the hardships that people face. I hope for a few more good things in life. But what I realize is that there are numerous difficulties, stresses, even tragedies that a person will face in their human life-span. We get plenty of hardships – more than anyone really wants. Therefore, I’m pretty sure that at the end of my life I will, along with both Christians and skeptics, conclude that the difficult outweighed the easy, and say, "Life was hard."

The way that people interpret this "observation" appears to be the significant point of disagreement. An atheist, through his world-view, might suggest that hardships, difficulties, tragedies, etc., are just a part of the way the world is. He may not be bothered too much with the fact that such annoyances exist in the world and in life if there is no God (or "god"). However, it is at the suggestion of a "god" that the disagreement begins - especially considering the Christian God. Here, some atheists might suggest that hardships, suffering, and various sorts of evil have no place in the world if the God of Christianity is real: suggesting God wouldn’t allow bad things to happen to good people. Therefore, since such evils exist in the real world, they assert that the kind of God Christianity proposes does not exist. From there, hardship often becomes the basis by which some people leave Christianity because of disappointment with God. These may say that He is unjust if He even exists.

A Christian who remains in the faith, however, seems to have a different perspective while observing similar pain. It even appears that hardships have the opposite effect on them. One might suppose it is because these Christians know (or "buy into") the whole apologetic philosophy about how and why evil is allowed by a good God. Perhaps, but I really don’t believe that all Christians who remain in the faith understand the fine points behind such apologetic arguments (I’m not even sure that I do). It is reasonable to think that Christians who endure hardship and remain in Christ have this different perspective based on something they understand from the Biblical doctrines on hardship and suffering. Much of this teaching brings to light the hope Christianity claims: eternal life in heaven with God; streets of gold; pie in the sky; no more suffering, etc. However, it seems to me that there is something more than future hope in the heart of a Christian. Although believers agree life is hard, they also maintain there is something about God that makes the worst things in life increase their faith and devotion to Him. And as I write this today, I’m not sure if this perspective is based on one’s interpretation of hardship (because of a Christian world-view), or if it is because of some sort of additional observation a Christian experiences, but a skeptic does not.

Instead of posing a number of Bible passages that could be discussed, I’d like to present the witness of three modern Christians as examples of what I’m considering. The first of which, my grandmother, leads to the other two persons. Sara D. Welsh was a woman who lived a good 88 years on this earth. She was a devout Christian who served God for many years, and in many ways, in the Presbyterian denomination. Without telling her whole life story, I will say that she lived and died a Christian through both the good and bad of life. A sad and very disappointing part of her life included her husband leaving and divorcing her after many years of marriage. This was certainly devastating to her, and I recall her sharing many times how hard it was to face what had happened. But she remained faithful to Christ, and I could see how her love for God increased even to the end of her life. When she left this world, she left behind many used Bibles and prayer journals in which she wrote out the expressions of her heart. Some of those written thoughts reveal the very point I’ve made above – for her there was something about God that made the worst things in life increase her faith and devotion to Him.

A few years prior to her death, my grandmother and I discussed a song that both of us heard on the radio – a song performed by Rich Mullins called: All the Way My Savior Leads Me. She pointed out that Mullins had arranged new music for words of an older hymn - lyrics by Fanny Crosby. My grandmother also told me that this was one of her favorite hymns, and that she wanted it presented at her funeral someday. It was the words of the hymn by Crosby (the second of our three Christian witnesses) that my grandmother identified as true in her own life. The second verse of the hymn offers her witness about life’s hardships, and how Crosby (and my grandmother) viewed God through them:

All the way my Savior leads me
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

The aforementioned "performer" of this song, Rich Mullins, is the third Christian whose witness I’d like to share. As a Christian recording artist and songwriter, his own lyrics are known by many to have reflected a sincere and growing faith and love for God throughout his life. Prior to his tragic death in 1997, he had written many songs that were born out of his own struggles and difficulties in life. One of which, called "Hard to Get" gives his witness to what I’ve observed about Christians and how they view God in the difficulties of life.

Hard to Get

You who live in heaven – hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love and who get hardened by the hurt
Do you remember when you lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did you forget about us after you had flown away
Well I memorized every word you said
Still I’m so scared I’m holding my breath
While you’re up there just playing hard to get

You who live in radiance – hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that’s not as patient as yours was but still we do love now and then
Did you ever know loneliness – did you ever know need
Do you remember just how long a night can get
When you are barely holding on and your friends fall asleep
And don’t see the blood that’s running in your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While you’re up there just playing hard to get

I know you bore our sorrows
I know you feel our pain
I know that I would not hurt any less even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out at the one who loves me most
And after I have figured this, somehow all I really need to know is if

You who live in eternity hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can’t see what’s ahead and we cannot get free of what we’ve left behind
I’m reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can’t see how you’re leading me unless you’ve led me here
Where I’m lost enough to let myself be led
And so, you’ve been here all along I guess
It’s just your ways and you are just plain hard to get.

Mullins’ lyrics certainly identify hardships of life while maintaining faith through struggles. But they also reflect the difficulty all of us have in trying to understand how the Christian God can allow people to face some of the worst things in life. We wonder if God understands, or if He forgets what it’s like for humans to endure hardship. We may for long periods of time feel pain and experience only what seems to be the silence of God in our cries for deliverance. Sometimes Christians around us forget just how much life can hurt, and how hard it is to understand God in the midst of pain. Hardship stretches faith to the edge of extinction where it falls for some, and flies for others. Nevertheless, Rich Mullins, like other Christians who leave this world full of all kinds of trials, maintained his faith and devotion through adversity and hardship. At the edge, Mullins’ faith soared.

Still, while thinking about our third Christian witness, we should note especially from the lyrics of "Hard to Get" that Mullins’ faith remained when he felt that there was very little to observe. In other words, what is indicated by the lyrics is there are times when there seems to be a lack of positive experience from God. At the end of the song, Mullins more or less identifies his interpretation of hardship, which would be a reason for maintaining faith. Although that particular song represents only a drop of water in the sea of Christian thought, it represents the perspective that God can use the hardships of life for something good.

And that brings us back to what I’m trying to figure out: Is the Christian perspective that allows one to maintain faith based upon one’s interpretation of hardship, or on something they observe or experience from God in the midst of hardship? It may seem like a silly question, but at the core lies the possibility that a Christian merely puts a certain spin on hardship so he or she can continue to believe in the face of something that causes a lot of doubt. On the other hand, if one is observing or experiencing something from God in the midst of trials, then one might think there is a more reasonable basis for maintaining faith.

Now I’ve posed all of this realizing there may not be any way to prove that either one or both happen to be the basis for a Christian’s perspective about life’s hardships. At least, I can’t prove to a skeptic that there is any more going on in another Christian’s life than his own interpretation of suffering. However, I believe that both interpretation and additional observation form the perspective that I have, and why I maintain faith in Christ through my own hardships. This is more or less what I have identified in my life while experiencing many things similar with those who don’t believe in any "god", or specifically, the Christian God.

When I consider my own experiences, I can’t say that my life is harder than what anyone else might face. It seems more likely that my life hasn’t been nearly as difficult as for many others. But I believe it is worth sharing that one of my own struggles in life has been the serious regret for sins I’ve committed even as a Christian. (Whether non-Christian readers agree I should call something a "sin" shouldn’t matter as much as what I’ve noticed about the effects of my own actions I’ve identified as "sin"). The results of actions motivated by my own selfishness and pride have truly hurt the most important people in my life which in turn has caused a deeper emotional distress in me than I ever imagined. I expected much better of myself, and I sometimes think God should have made it much less difficult to be Christ-like and do the right thing in all situations once I became a Christian. Sometimes I ache deep within, longing for God to simply wipe away all the results of my transgressions. When damage from sin is still present, it is sometimes easy to think that God hasn’t forgiven. And when healing hasn’t come after asking for it time after time (not just three times, but three-hundred), it doesn’t seem much like He is there, or that He is listening, or even that He really cares. But still, I find that He is present, attentive, and actively loving. I am probably just beginning to understand, but even so I find His grace sufficient. Being more appreciative of His love and forgiveness offered in the cross, I agree more than ever that His grace is amazing. And my faith is certainly becoming something different than what it was when I first believed. It isn’t fading away in the midst of pain in any struggle, but rather it is growing and strengthening. In the hardship of life, the reality of God’s presence has become greater in all circumstances.

In the worst of life there is a peculiar difference between the skeptic and the Christian. No doubt, life is hard – I believe that almost everyone agrees. But if in this case someone says the difference in perspectives promoting disbelief in the skeptic and faith in the Christian is either one’s interpretation of hardship, I might agree to some extent. But mere interpretation isn’t enough to maintain faith for me, and I bet it wasn’t enough for any of the three Christians I’ve mentioned. In my life I am, at least, identifying something that the skeptics apparently don’t – something, or rather someone who leads me, who "gives me grace for every trial…feeds me with the living bread." For me, and I know for many Christians, there is something real and observable about God that makes the worst things in life increase my faith. Somehow, through it all, He is increasing my love for Him and my desire to follow Him where He leads.

END                    Revised: 09/22/04