Radical Faith

Take a look at this quote from Philip Yancey's book The Bible Jesus Read:

By itself, Psalm 23 leads to an easy-answer faith; by itself Psalm 22 leads to spiritual despair; together, the two offer a bracing mixture of realism and hope.

I have come to see these psalms as calling for different kinds of faith. Psalm 23 models childlike faith, and Psalm 22 models fidelity, a deeper, more mysterious kind of faith. Life with God may include both. We may experience times of unusual closeness, when prayers are answered in an obvious way and God seems intimate and caring. We may also experience dark times, when God stays silent, when nothing works according to formula and all the Bible's promises seem glaringly false. Fidelity involves learning to trust that, out beyond the perimeter of darkness, God still reigns and has not abandoned us, no matter how it may appear.

What do you think? Do you agree? I think I might disagree.

I don't think that Psalm 23 is an easy-answer faith. Maybe it is a "child-like" faith, but we are called to that kind of faith - a faith of radical dependence and radical trust. That kind of faith is far from easy, and it's not an easy answer.

What about faith in the face of feeling forsaken? What about Psalm 22? There are times of spiritual despair -- there are times when God seems absent. To deny those times is to try to fool ourselves. When we read the rest of the Psalm, though, the author does not have a lack of faith. He believes in God, and praises God, even if he can't fell God's presence. Perhaps this extraordinary faith has its roots in a faith like the one described in Psalm 23 -- radical dependence and radical trust. Develop those, and then, even when God feels absent, we can praise his presence.

Image: I took a stroll in the park today, playing and praying with my camera. Beautiful, beautiful day.