One of the most encouraging lines in Scripture assures that blessed are those who have not seen yet still believe. This response from Our Lord to St Thomas who refused to believe Christ had risen unless he saw the wounds of the cross and put his hand in the side of the Lord assured that those who still believe but without proof receive great blessings. With those great blessings those come great trials and tribulations. Some may even wish to have seen, like the apostles who witnessed Christ’s miracles, resurrection and ascension. With that belief came a even far greater obligation to the faith but those who have not seen but do not demand face their own trials of faith. Christian Counselors can help many through their faith questions and desolations and fears. Please aslo review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification
Desolation
Unlike the empirical verification St Thomas received, believers today are left without verification. The faith is based on the stories of others found in Scripture. Faith is based upon the accounts of others and seen within Christian theology as a gift of the Holy Spirit which is fueled by grace. Faith is a voluntary choice to believe something that is beyond verification or seen. It is companioned in this world with the virtue of hope in that which is promised will come to pass.
Still in many instances, challenges to faith and hope in what faith promises can envelop the most devout Christian. This period of desolation or testing can be the most terrifying moment for a Christian. Indeed St Teresa Avila speaks of desolation of faith. She promises that these desolations can make the soul become more dependent upon God and test, like Job, the soul’s commitment to God. Christian Counseling can also help those through desolation and despair.
Imperfect World of Design due to Sin
These desolations occur for a variety of reasons. For some it may because of a loss or death of a loved one. For others it may because a prayer was not answered. Others may call out why this world is so cruel and how a good God can permit the evils of this world. Others may find desolation due to the corrupt behavior of those who represent the Church or hold position of authority within the Church. Why is such evil permitted.
When humanity chooses sin over God, bad things occur. The human condition is a result of sin of the first parents. This brought these sufferings to the world. Yet, Christ, permitted Himself to serve as a suffering servant and example to His creation. God Himself, permitted Himself to suffer as Job, to not only redeem but to also teach.
Yet, where is God in nature. One can see examples of beauty in creation. One can see examples of Heaven in love in this broken world, but in this world, one still sees the reality of predation and prey, creation and destruction and unending cycles that design the universe. One could truly say God may have done better. Any pet owner would never put another pet with something that could harm the other pet. Yet one sees in nature since the epoch of time, creature devour creature for mere survival. The explosion of a star for the creation of others. Science and its observation shows a clear design but definitely a messy one. Many can question God, why such things occur. Prior to the discovery of the universe’s origins, St Augustine truly believed that the lion laid with the lamb. Evolution shows a different tale, where certain evolved tactics and designs within one creature makes one the predator and the other prey. While a neutral action in nature, why would this be permitted? How can a good God watch the lion devour the lamb? To question God over what is right or wrong or natural and evil may be a daring thing, but it is a rational thing. Faith may question such things, but it also concedes to the soul’s own ignorance. It realizes questions of evil, whether moral, or merely predation and destruction in nature, are questions that one day will be discovered in the next life. Not even science has all the answers. The worship of science over faith has caused a generation of atheists. One cannot be like St Thomas and demand verification to a Divine Being. Yet at the same time, one’s cry, if God is our Father, should receive something? Shouldn’t it?
Existential Cry
The existential cry to find God sometimes also goes unanswered. For many, the feelings of presence of God, which are only within oneself are not enough. One may begin to doubt the voice of God and confuse it with their own inner dialogue. Discernment, a long time process, may become loss in this type of desolation. One becomes no longer able to distinguish the inner voice of God with one’s own voice. In turn, instead of questioning one cannot hear God, they demand that God come to them. Many suffer desolation in solitude or lack of God’s touch in their life.
There are many Christian Counseling ways to discuss these pains but until one questions itself, one cannot truly feel the lost of identity and relationship with God until one feels the desolation itself.
How can a good God not come to one? “What have I done wrong?” Many may blame oneself, or blame one’s prayer, or see prayer as more contract as covenant. Like a child, the soul expects what it feels is best instead of what God wills. The will must comply to the Divine Will. It must not question self but instead conform self to the Divine. Like Christ did in the garden, one must be willing to put self to the side.
Still, does not a father come to his child in his or her deepest need? Why does not the Lord come to one? Does not a parent run to the child at night who screams from a nightmare? Where is God in this way? Why cannot He comfort?
These type of serious feelings can cause deep tension within the soul. The soul and its intellect tends to question. It begins to search for answers. These wanderings are in themselves not bad. For one should question all forms of reality. God has given one a mind to question things and one should question but when questions dominate faith it can become toxic. In this type of desolation, the soul experiences a far deeper existential crisis. It becomes more like Thomas. It seeks verification and answers to questions that cannot be answered in this world.
The soul may begin to question Christianity, it may even question Theism. It may entertain thoughts of Existentialism and seek to fulfill its needs through its own cries. “Why cannot my Lord come to me, and command me and tell me what to do?” This is a haunting statement. As history has shown, God can through dreams, angels, and even Divine intervention, slice through the walls of reality, but rarely is this seen in everyday life. Instead, one is left with clues and discernment and guidance. I think, many of us, would prefer a more divine proclamation rather than think, analyze and sometimes doubt, but for whatever reason, if our faith exists, we must let go of the intellect and the “whys” and commit to what faith demands. No route in this world, even the explanation of the universe, will ever be truly known. As children, we must accept the reality of doubt, lack of answers, and fear, and hold onto what has been handed down and with faith companioned by hope, choose to believe and allow grace to heal.
The atheist existentialist will challenge one to let go of the comfortable feeling that someone is out there and to embrace oneself and make one’s own road, but those words are eerily similar to the temptations of the serpent. When God’s presence is not felt, it is for a reason to become stronger or a call of focus on ourselves to be better. It is not a call to look for other answers.
Faith During Desolation
During desolation, faith can be strengthened or weakened but a seed of faith grown in solid ground can never die. One’s faith will find itself again in certain feelings, senses, or places. It will find itself in family and identify, and most importantly it will mourn God’s absence.
More saintly may find existential terror in prayer life only, while others may stop prayer temporarily. They may stay away from God because it hurts the soul to talk to him. They desire what heaven offers while on earth. They do not understand the love that would consume them and distract them from their earthly mission. So some may take a time out. Others may become spiritually slothful and maybe, to Satan’s delight, partake in secular plans. Faith, however, that is secure is always secure. The soul will find its way back to God that has the virtue of faith. Little things will bring it back through prayers of others.
The examples of the martyrs, saints and Christ Himself, detail to one the difficult road of desolation during faith but on how to put aside doubt and one’s own will but to give to God.
In this dark time, one can turn to Scripture, the writings of the saints and a Christian Counselor or a Spiritual Mentor or Advisor. Sometimes, these same familiar comforts may not immediately answer questions, but they can become a bedrock to prevent farther fall from faith. One in faith can then in prayer call upon God not to leave oneself even though one is in doubt.
One must also be careful of the insidious trap of the evil one. While desolation can bring one closer to God by understanding how much the soul needs God, it can also be a device when used in temptation to tear the soul away from God. Satan can challenge one’s notions of God and through this doubt make one question God’s love and kindness. This can lead to anger towards God or misconceptions about God’s love. This attempted wedge by Satan between the soul and God can lead to further alienation. One must always remain vigilante in the role the demons play in weakening faith and how they look to accomplish it for a particular person.
Faith of Thomas or Job
Will our faith be of Job or demand verification like Thomas? Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification
We must choose to either demand verification in our faith or be more like Job. Is Job’s faith an affront to reason? If we continue to question, we are being human. I do not think questioning and trying to understand certain things are wrong, but when it becomes an obsession and weakens prayer life and faith, then it can become an issue. These doubts can turn a desolation.
Job’s faith is one of obedience, patience and discernment. It understands the inner workings of God in this fallen world and the pain of loss. It is a faith that is unshakable, but even Job asked why. It is important if one has a good relationship with God to be able to ask why. While God is the most terrifying and powerful Deity, He has told us, He is also a Father in love with His children to the point of giving everything up. With that knowledge, we know we can ask why. We know we can become upset. We know we can cry out.
St Augustine tells one to believe so that one may understand. This may seem backwards, but it opens one to God with meekness and honesty. It puts confidence in God and believes that all will be answered. St Augustine Himself could never comprehend the mystery of the Trinity but never allowed intellectual hubris to prevent his faith from failing.
The faith of Job is what is needed in a fallen world. St Thomas was given a rare gift, but was admonished-and still while the apostles had faith, they had already seen. Through that sight, their allegiance to Christ demanded far more. Job’s faith is a more perfect faith. A faith not based on sight but belief. No belief will ever make total sense. No belief will ever be empirically proven or disproven. No belief will be placed over other beliefs in this world.
Faith, however, in Christ, will be rewarded for those who offer to conform their will to God. That is the power of faith, to quiet the intellect, to accept without proof and proceed in hope. As Peter sunk when he took his eyes off Jesus, we must keep our eyes on God, so that we do not sink in the ocean of the temporal world.
Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification in Christian Counseling.
Recommended Readings
St Teresa of Avila and the Interior Castle.
Explore the Faith–Article on Interior Castle Click here
St Ignatius Loyola on Discernment. His 14 Rules for Discernment. Click here
Christian Today. “If God is good, why is the world evil?” by John Lemmon