Losing Faith in God

What is the meaning of faith?

I’ve lost my faith in God.
Why didn’t God help me?
I really don’t believe that he will save me.

Although people may not out rightly say these phrases, very often their dejected words and actions prove evidence that this is what is going on in their minds. Through times of strife they appear to lose all faith in God.

I once had a friend who was extremely successful. He had a fantastic career, a loving wife and family and a great circle of friends. His faith in God was strong; or so he thought.

One day this friend had a major disagreement with his bosses at work and ended up quitting his job. About the same time some of his friends emigrated to different parts of the world. His mood deepened and as he fell into depression his wife struggled to cope with the situation and finally left him.

I could see the troubled questions going through his mind.

What’s happening to me?
Why does God give me all these troubles?
Shouldn’t God have mercy?
Maybe there is no God?

Now at rock bottom, he firmly believed that his faith in God was lost. He stopped thinking about faith and just tried to live his life as best as he could.

A few years later, he found another job and made great progress, re-establishing a career. Some of those friends that had travelled abroad returned home, preferring the British way of life. He re-built a good relationship with another women and life became as wonderful as he had previous known. As the good life returned, so did my friends faith in God. He believed that his faith had been restored.

The truth is that his faith in God hadn’t been restored because he had never lost it. In fact he had never had a faith in God, just a faith in his life’s conditions.

Why did he lose his faith?

When life was good and full of happiness he trusted in this life style. Psychologically he believed it would last forever. In the stock market world, when the price of a stock goes up, investors believe the price will go up forever in complete ignorance of what economics are actually telling them. The price of that stock becomes exaggerated. Reality then sets in when the price of the stock starts to fall. It is then assumed that the price will continue to fall forever and that stock is sold cheaply. Here we can label the economy as being “faith in God” whilst the direction of the stock price can be called “faith in a lifestyle”.
My friend, when life turned bad asked the question,

Where is God?

His faith was never in God but in his work, his family and his friends. When he lost them, he lost his faith.

When we are at our lowest ebb, this is when God is truly by our side. For those of us who absolutely believe in God, this is when our faith is strongest. We do not have a “fair weather” faith in God. Inevitably we find a path through our troubles and strife thus proving God will always be there for us. This is absolute faith which provides such hope, inspiration and optimism for us all.

How fantastic is that?

Terry Norrington

www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com

www.cryinthedark.org