Praying for Haiti

In light of the recent earthquakes in Haiti, I interviewed Christine Elsas, a student at Colorado Christian University who has served as a missionary to an orphanage in Haiti. When asked how we could be praying for Haiti in the aftermath of this disaster, she stated that a lot of people are asking the question, “How could this happen?” She feels that the earthquakes are already an answer to prayer.

Success in Haiti, says Christine, is different than success in the United States. Americans envision wealth, skyscrapers, and materialistic things, but the Haitians don’t need money, necessarily. They are run by corrupt leaders, and they need to be educated about proper nutrition. Christine also says that although the demographic reports say that people in Haiti are 80% Catholic, this is actually a Catholicism mixed with voodoo (a religion that is based on witchcraft).

Christine says that sometimes God does drastic things in order to get the attention of those who have strayed from Him. She says that the Haitians need a heart change that can only come from the Lord, because their entire mindset is ingrained in voodoo. She wants people to pray that missionaries would be sent who are willing to give the Haitians what they need and who will help in the Lord with love. She wants us to pray that God will open the heart of our nation to Haiti, because “the workers are few.” She also says that Haiti needs humble missionaries who do not have preconceived notions about what the Haitians need.

Christine says that God works in brokenness, and she hopes that the Haitians will be more open to Jesus after this disaster.

A recent news report from CBN by senior reporter George Thomas indicates that Christine’s hope is becoming reality. After telling the story of an 83-year-old Haitian woman who has been a voodoo priestess since she was 14, Thomas says that “the earthquake brought serious doubts about her religious practices,” and that she has made the decision to turn away from voodoo. She now regularly attends a Christian worship service. Pastor Camille, the one who took care of her after the earthquake struck, states, “‘So many people are accepting Christ…. Almost every day, right after the meetings some walk forward to proclaim their new faith.’”[1] So, we can see that this earthquake is not merely a horrendous disaster; it is a horrendous disaster that God, in His sovereignty, is using to bring newly humbled hearts into a loving relationship with Him.

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[1]“Turmoil in Haiti Turns Woman from Voodoo” <http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/January/Turmoil-in-Haiti-Turns-Woman-from-Voodoo/>

The Problem of Pain, Part 2: Pain’s Positive Role

“In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

While it seems as though a loving and just Father would do everything to prevent His children from enduring suffering, Jesus told His disciples during the Last Supper that they would have trouble. This is a message that has transcended the bounds of history through the pen of John, the disciple Jesus loved, and reached our eyes and ears. The message wouldn’t have made it this far if God didn’t want us to know and understand that we truly would endure trouble. But how can we take heart when tragedy strikes? Sometimes the grief simply seems insurmountable, and it causes us to doubt the love of God. Could it be that our doubt simply stems from a misunderstanding of God’s love and how He can use pain to make a difference in our lives?

The normal person would wonder, at this point, how pain can possibly be beneficial. When truly painful things happen, they are often completely beyond our control and miserably frustrating. It can sometimes be so bad that it causes us to feel as though life is no longer worth living. In the initial stages of grief over our pain, those of us who pray may ask God to either take away our affliction or take our lives. Those of us who don’t pray might languish for a long time before finding our solace in some earthly pleasure. This is a solace that, if we are honest with ourselves, is temporary because what we placed our hope in is temporary. As soon as this object is taken away, we are back to square one.

The apostle Paul is a wonderful example of this exact principle. This man had been through pain and frustration of a magnitude that many of us cannot imagine for the sake of the Gospel at the time he wrote 2 Corinthians. Not only that, but He had a “thorn in [his] flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment [him].” This man, like many of us, prayed that God would take away His affliction. And do you know what Christ said to Him? Christ, the loving and merciful Savior, said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 to get the full story.

God allowed this to happen to Paul in order to keep him from becoming conceited. God brought Paul to the point of complete dependency on Him so that Paul wouldn’t think that he could do any of his ministry on his own, because frankly he couldn’t. Paul was called by God to minister to the Gentiles and served as a catalyst for the spread of the Gospel all over the world. This was not easy, and Paul needed to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit in order to endure it!

You see, if we are to serve God and fulfill His purpose for our lives, we must depend on Him for every ounce of strength. Pain brings us to our knees in order that we may have humility and realize that we can’t do this on our own, in dependency on other people, or in dependency on other things. The benefit that pain has to offer us is the opportunity to fall into God’s open arms, crying “Abba, Father!” He is there to bring comfort in the midst of our distress, and He wants to! He wants to have a relationship with you, and He is jealous for you. Let Him have your life, and you will never see your pain the same way again. You will have a loving and all-knowing Father to lead and guide you every step of the way. He holds the past, the present, and the future, and even if your pain feels as though it is needless, realize that He is big enough to use any circumstances, whether they are painful or not.

The Problem of Pain: Part 1

Although Christianity involves a God who is loving, merciful, kind, and compassionate, many choose to question His love and, in turn, His existence. There are 991,000 individuals in America who claim to be agnostic,[1] meaning they believe in the possibility of the existence of a god or gods, but they are not certain of this existence. What is it that blocks their certainty? This is the question that many evangelical Christians may ask as they make an effort to share their faith with those around them, as Jesus commanded us to do in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).

I submit that the main impediment for many agnostics is the problem of pain. Sometimes we, as human beings who are small and easily thrown by the winds and waves of life, simply have to ask the question, “Why?” “Why do I endure needless suffering day by day?” “Why did my loved one pass away so suddenly and unexpectedly?” “How many times and for how long do I have sit here and grieve loss and have my life interrupted by unnecessary pain that does nothing but impede my growth?” Aside from personal struggles, we may also ask, “Why would a god who is loving and merciful allow the pain and suffering that happens in the world today? After all, 15 million children die every year from starvation;[2] 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually;[3] not to mention the whole slew of natural disasters that continually takes place, inflicting massive amounts of death and injury on millions of innocent people. The mere existence of death in and of itself is cause for complaint. Wouldn’t an omnipotent God be able to prevent these things from happening? Wouldn’t a completely righteous God be just enough to do so?” These questions have the potential to lead one to the conclusion that either God isn’t really loving and merciful or He doesn’t exist altogether.

Because of the massive impact that these questions can have on a person’s faith, it is important for us to be sensitive to the importance of this issue. Some of us are strong like Job and can simply trust God’s sovereignty in any and every situation. That is a wonderful gift and an ability that should bring peace and joy to the lives of those who have it. But what of those who lack that ability? What becomes of their faith, and consequently, what becomes of them? It is important for those of us who are strong to not pass judgment on these people and to be empathetic and supportive of them in their time of pain and doubt. Sometimes they don’t need for us to accuse them of being faithless by questioning God, but they need us simply to love them and care for them to the best of our ability and by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit that is given to us. Then, when they are ready, we can embark on a beautiful journey with them of the discovery of God’s plan and purpose for their lives.

In the meantime, these people may want practical answers. Maybe you are enduring times of difficulty and pain and you are seeking answers to some of these questions for yourself. If so, know that you have no reason to be ashamed, but take heart in knowing that God will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6) and he collects every single one of your tears in His own bottle and keeps them (Ps. 56:8). This God is a big God, bigger than all your pain and heartache. He cares for you, as is evidenced by the sacrifice of His son in order that your sins may be atoned for and you may have fellowship with Him (John 3:16). Be strong and take heart, and stay tuned for some more analyses of how pain could possibly play a positive role in your life and in the lives of others.

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[1] http://www.religioustolerance.org/agnostic.htm

[2] http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm

[3] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2005/pg5l.html