I’ve known Erick Erickson for over a decade when I met him at a collection of 49 other State level bloggers called Samsphere that was put together by a (now defunct) Liberty group called, oddly enough, the Sam Adams Alliance. I’m still in touch with some of those bloggers including Jim Hoft who owns The Gateway Pundit.
Jim has been helping to publicize “The Windham Incident” for us.
Jim was able to go national, others now work for other blogs that are national. Erick was both a blogger and a speaker at that seminal event and went on from the Georgia Peach to help found RedState and now is a national level talk radio host out of Atlanta on WSB.
I’m on his email list, well, just because, and this morning this arrived in my inbox and I felt the need to share.
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Today is a big day for me. A lot of hard work, multiple frustrating delays, and some absurdity will all collide today. It will either bring about a beginning or an end. I’m not sure which, but I’m willing for either at this point. Today is fish or cut bait day for me on a project I’ve been working on. The moment I can discuss this further, I will.
But here is what I can discuss with you now directly related to all of that.
In my work, with what I talk about on radio and write about here, I encounter many atheists. Some are very hostile. Some are curious. Almost all of them seem to think it is far easier for a Christian to rely on his “imaginary sky god” than accept the fatal existence of humanity.
I beg to differ.
It seems to me it is far easier for a person to conclude there is no God in Heaven and no divine sovereignty so any act that happens just happens. It is not even a random act. It is just the swerve of atoms across the vast expanse of time and space that will eventually wear you down, decompose your body, and start a cycle over again over billions of years.
It is far easier to be an atheist than a Christian.
A Christian must contend with the sovereignty of God. When a Christian works for something, prays about it, and it does not come to be, he will wonder why and wonder what God’s plan must be. When an atheist works for something, he has no god to pray to, and a failure or success just comes. There is no God.
And with there being no God, there is no wondering, no guessing, no praying, and no second-guessing the Christian will go through if God does not answer the prayer or deliver the result the Christian wants. There’s no crying out to God in disappointment. There’s no praising God with excitement. There’s just void.
The Christian might struggle and balance God’s sovereignty with great desire and want and hope then wonder if he has stumbled into prosperity gospel territory and has he treated God transactionally. The atheist just goes on.
It can be hard to be a Christian who desires something and have it come to nothing. It can be hard to be a Christian who desires something and have it come to fruition and then fret over God’s plan, how much of it was a God thing, and how much of it was just meant to be.
The older a Christian gets, he comes more and more to terms with God’s sovereignty and control and understanding a person’s hard work and God go hand in hand — two sides of a common roof. We might see either only God at work or only man at work or a more complete picture that encompasses the sovereignty of God. We eventually will see peace in the plan of God.
An atheist need not fret about these things. But an atheist cannot find comfort in God’s sovereignty that a Christian can. All things really do work for the good of those called according to His purposes. That thing you wanted that you prayed for and God did not give you is part of his sovereign will still for your good and often means something better is right around the corner.
And sometimes, through the fretting and worrying and struggling, the Christian ends up with his heart’s desire and a newer, deeper appreciation for God’s role in his life.
An atheist never has to struggle with that. It is an easier existence with no commitment necessary to the higher things. And often, the atheist prospers where the Christian fails. But that is an act of mercy from God because this is the best life the atheist will ever have and the worst life and the most struggle a Christian will ever have.
An atheist can look at the evil, savagery, and random violence of the world and wonder why. A Christian not only looks upon it and understands sin, but is called upon by the atheist to justify a God who would allow it all to happen.
But a Christian has answers while an atheist has none. It is sometimes hard to be a Christian. It is also a reminder that we are passing through on to greater glory. We just have to remember God’s got this, even when it seems like he doesn’t. God is sovereign and the struggle, the success, and the disappointment all pull us closer to trusting in Him.
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Let me add this – the above should be viewed as having a relationship with God and not being religious. Religion can fail you, and fail often. That relation will not. YOU may fail at or being in that relationship, but the person at the other end of that relationship will not fail you. Faith, my friends, Faith.
