Getting Past Fairy Godmother Faith

How often have you caught yourself feeling disappointed that God made you go through hard times?

Too often I’ve done well at what I was good at and avoided the things I wasn’t good at. Focusing on strengths and delegating weaknesses is generally good advice. But too often I did not work hard or fight for the things related to what I was good at—like marketing my writing, like doing things I didn’t like to do to lead my church well.

I wish that when I was growing up I had someone to tell me and show me that I had to fight for just about anything worth having. Too often I absorbed the idea that Christians shouldn’t fight or strive too much because that’s worldly, and if God wants us to have something, he’d make it happen. I’ve seen too many disappointed believers and have too often been disappointed myself to believe that anymore.

I suspect that kind of thinking has less to do with genuine faith and more to do with the Fairy Godmother. As she frequents fairy tales and grants wishes with a flick of her wand, humans innately gravitate toward the desire for a God like that. Even though we may know the value of hardship or hard work, the human heart still tends to gravitate toward what’s easy. Enter the Fairy Godmother.

Ed Cole writes, “In front of every promise, there is a problem.” And, “Problems [can] drive out the worst in you and bring out the best in you” (Treasure, 83, 84). Isn’t that something we continually see in Scripture, as well as in every person who succeeds in any difficult endeavor?

Every biblical figure with a story is one who faces obstacles—and has to fight. Israel has to fight for the Promised Land. Years after that, when God tells King Jehoshaphat, “The battle is not yours but God’s,” he follows with, “Tomorrow march down against them.” Of course. He wants us to know that things are in his hands, but his hands will take us through a fight to test us, maybe even break us, so he can build us up.

We’re inspired by the Psalms, especially the two-thirds of them that deal with God’s power or peace in overcoming diversity. That’s why they’re inspiring. Every one of them was written by someone who was struggling—and who trusted God. They trusted, fought, and overcame.

And so will we.