Myths about Faith

By Rev. Erik Rottmann

Psoriasis is a hereditary skin condition that creates large, red, itchy patches called legions all over your body. It’s not contagious, but it isn’t pretty either. People tend to stare. Sometimes they ask how you got poison ivy.You feel self-conscious about flakes of dead skin on your clothes and furniture. It’s not all that bad when you are old and used to it. But when it first strikes you at about thirteen or fourteen years of age and the doctor says you’ll have it for the rest of your life, psoriasis can be a very big deal. It might even make you wonder about God, faith, and stuff like that.

Psoriasis doesn’t really have much to do with faith, but I had to learn this the hard way. Having left the Lutheran Church during my teen years, I waded up to my neck into Pentecostalism (another story for another time). I answered countless altar calls, seeking a miracle. I attended tent meetings with guest speakers who claimed to have the gift of healing, hoping to receive their heaven-sent touch. (Once, while a “healer” from Africa leaned over me, fervently praying for the Holy Spirit, I swung my arm upward with a big “Thank you, Jesus!” and accidentally punched the man squarely in the eye.) I was always told the same thing:“God wants you to be healed. You just have to believe He will.” Each time I went home red and scaly, convinced I needed to increase my faith, make things better with God, and be more committed to holy living.

I probably should have read the Bible. God’s Word would have dispelled the myths about faith I had been told. Come to find out, these myths made me suffer more than the psoriasis did!

Myth #1: If God does not answer your prayer the way you want it answered, it is because you do not have enough faith.

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26 ESV). God always answers our prayers but for our blessing and benefit. He sometimes answers no. Think of this analogy: a child asks his mom to let him go swimming by himself. As far as the child can see, the water looks like fun, and it is a really hot day. Mom knows the dangers of swimming alone, and she tells him no. It is not because she is angry or mean and not because the child does not believe in his mom enough. The child’s request was simply not the best thing for the child. In the same way, God sometimes answers our prayers with a repeated no. This is not because we lack faith! He sees more than we do. He has our well-being in mind.

Myth #2: Bad things happen because you do not believe in God enough.

St. Paul had an affliction he prayed God would take away. God preferred that Paul keep it. God said,“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV). God graciously allows people to suffer various ailments and afflictions for good purpose (Romans 8:28), even though His purposes might not always be clear. Joseph spent years in Egyptian slavery and imprisonment (Genesis 39–41) before realizing the benefit. Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5) led to eternal life, and perhaps even the preaching of the Gospel in Aram. Many people in the Old Testament died “not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar” (Hebrews 11:13 ESV). Yet God will vindicate them all in the resurrection. What good use does God make of my psoriasis? Admittedly, that remains to be seen. But it will be seen! “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:26 ESV).

Myth #3: You need to find ways to make your faith stronger.

Just as God gives you the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 12:3; 2 Peter 1:1), He also sustains and increases your faith. Faith is not a muscle that you must exercise to strengthen. It does not grow stronger through increased commitment or devotion. Faith is nourishment that God provides to you through the gifts of His Word, Baptism, and Holy Communion. Your faith becomes stronger, not when you act, but when God acts through these things!

I recently read a blog by a young woman overwhelmed with despair because of her psoriasis. Anyone with personal afflictions, medical or otherwise, has probably experienced similar moments. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature certainly would love to see more of that! But God’s gift of faith produces also endurance. This endurance will have a good result: “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4 ESV).

Rev. Erik Rottmann is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Versailles, Missouri, and a member of the Higher Things editorial board. His e-mail address is echo-romeo@sbcglobal.net.