God Believes In You

I remember watching the movie The Count of Monte Christo when something jumped out at me. Edmond, the hero, started out with a firm belief that God was with him always, and that God would never leave his side. On his first day in prison, his jailor told Edmond that he would cease beating him when God showed up to stop him. As the years in prison went by, Edmond’s faith began to wane until finally he began to hate God. When he met another prisoner who was a former priest, he wished to learn everything from that man except anything to do with God.

As the story goes, Edmond is able to escape from prison with a treasure map given to him by his now deceased friend the priest. The only condition for receiving the map was that the money would not be used for evil. Edmond, however, is so consumed by the desire for revenge he begins using the near limitless fortune for just that.

He begins destroying those who wrongfully imprisoned him all the while sinking deeper and deeper into his craving for vengeance. It is on a chance encounter with his former fiancé, who is now married to his best friend, that a crack forms in his plans. She comes to him in secret and at their meeting she tells him that no one can take away what God has meant to be. He informs her that he doesn’t believe in God. She then says the line that pretty much sums up each of us: “You don’t have to believe in Him, He believes in you.”

What about those of us in today’s modern world? It is so easy to be distracted and to not believe in God. Society almost seems to be based on this principle. You can believe in God, but you can’t tell anyone they’re doing anything wrong because everyone has the right to decide what is right and wrong for themselves. Even people who profess to believe in God usually only do so once in week in church, then go out the rest of the week and live the life society provides for them. As Brennan Manning so eloquently put it: "They acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle."

I am reminded of the poem “Footprints in the Sand.” A man is walking along the beach with God. As he looks back on the more difficult times in his life, he sees only one set of footprints in the sand. He becomes angry at God, demanding to know why He left him at the hardest times in his life. God says to the man that he is not seeing hi footprints, but God’s, because at those times God picked him up and carried him.

We all have difficult times in our lives. At these times we really begin to question if God is really even there. Friends might desert us, we find no solace at church, and we are in a totally new and terrifying situation and can find no comfort anywhere. It is when we need God the most that we often times deny His existence because He is not taking away our pain and suffering.

How comforting it should be to know that, even if we stop believing in God, He never stops believing in us. To have a God who says

"Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. I will never fail you nor abandon you." (Deut. 31:6, 8)

So the next time some challenge or trouble that seems insurmountable comes up, remember that God is with you throughout it all, no matter what. As Martin Luther wisely said amidst his own struggles: "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."

How great is it that when all else fails, God doesn't!