Why Didn’t We Believe More when it Mattered?

Tears streamed down the face of the woman coming toward me.

“Lori, can you come help the man in my office?”

As we walked down the hall, she explained that he had lost the right to see his family and hadn’t even been given a chance to address the things that caused the problem in the first place. He clearly needed help and support but no one had offered it. It certainly did sound like a tragedy.

When we turned the corner to her office, I could see another woman nodding, patting the man’s arm, and reaching for tissues. The man had his head down and his hand over his eyes. As we entered the office, he looked up and our eyes met. When I spoke his name, his countenance changed immediately.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said with a scowl.

“Yup, it’s me,” I replied, “Have you been telling these ladies no one gave you any chances to change? No one offered you help or assistance? There was no way you could have seen this day coming? Is that what you’ve been saying?”

“Yeah,” glancing at the women.

“Would you like me to tell them the number of times you were warned this day would come? The number of services, supports, and help you were offered, but rejected? The number of people who reached out to you to convince you to take the warnings seriously before it was too late?”

“Hey! It’s not my fault I didn’t believe. Lots of people say things they don’t mean and promise stuff that doesn’t happen.”

“Well, except this time, these people did mean what they said, their promises did happen, and you did chose to ignore all the warnings. Isn’t that what actually happened?”

He nodded.

Would you like help now?”

“What good would that do? It won’t change anything.”

“It would be a change for you. It would start you in the right direction for a healthier life.”

“No, forget it. There’s nothing wrong with me, it’s you people,” he said as he walked out.

We all do this sometimes. We all ignore warnings. That’s how we get caught on the beach in thunderstorms or at retirement with no savings or in harmful relationships we could have avoided.

Sometimes, good people ignore warning signs because they’re too terrible to believe. Women who don’t want to believe their husbands could be unfaithful. Parents who don’t want to know their children have developed addictions. Patients who delay treatment hoping they’re just being overly anxious about early symptoms. Rumors of war we dismiss because the acts whispered in the wind are too terrible to imagine.

I think about this when stories emerging from Syria flit across my newsfeed. I don’t click on them because they look like supermarket tabloids, too horrendous to be true. When the same stories crop up from credible news sources, I cling to modifiers like “some reports say” or “unverified sources” and I tell myself that the truth will never be that horrible, surely it won’t.

Then, I remember how I used to judge Westerners who lived through World War II. There were early reports out of Germany. Unverified sources did tell of persecutions, relocations, Jewish ghettos, and even the camps but people couldn’t accept that the reports were true. How could they be? The truth would never be that terrible, right?

Except eventually we learned the truth was worse.

We tune out warning signs because we believe the lie there’s nothing we can do.

Now, if we had the ear of a world power, we wouldn’t feel as helpless, would we? We’d schedule regular conversations with this person. We’d advocate for action. We’d intercede for intervention. We’d petition for comfort and aid. We’d persist in making appeals until we saw results.

We do have the ear of a world power and those conversations we know by another term – prayer.

This is the age to believe what God says about prayer and about the spiritual battle raging around us.

One day we’ll stand with those who suffered and they’ll tell stories of miracles that occurred. God will connect the dots for us between those miracles and the prayers of others who didn’t even know those who suffered.

On that day we will cry out (until God banishes tears), why didn’t we pray more? Why didn’t we believe the warning, the calling to prayer? For the sake of our suffering brothers and sisters. For the sake of the threat marching toward our own door. For the sake of enemies who may have been converted before judgment day. Why didn’t we believe more when it mattered?

In 2 Peter 3, Peter writes about how the world scoffs at the warning that one day Jesus will return to judge us all. They ignore every warning.

Peter tells us God isn’t slow to act, He’s giving us a chance to bring as many aboard the ark of salvation as will come. Peter graciously instructs us how we are to live through these times, how we should hold on and not become unstable ourselves as the ship of this world lurches from side to side to side in the wake of the warnings God sends through His mercy.

Discover prayer, loved ones. Pay attention to the times. Heed the warnings found in God’s Word and intercede without ceasing for those who don’t. Wage war on behalf of the suffering through constant prayer. Press into Jesus.

The day will come and we will answer for what we did with times we were given. We’ll be whole because we’ll be with Jesus but heed this warning so others don’t miss the boat.

Let’s not be among those asking, why didn’t we believe more when it mattered?

Why Didn’t We Believe More when it Mattered? Questions for a #persecuted world http://t.co/DPb86XjaO6 #Syria #ISIS #amwriting #faith

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) August 14, 2015