Whose Faith Feels Tested

God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

OH, EVE, WHY DID YOU EAT THE FRUIT? We have thought this countless times over the years. Haven’t you? Everything changed in the moment she took that fateful bite. It permanently changed life for all of us—the entire human race. Why?

Everyone has asked this question at some point in their lives: “Why, God?” “Why did this happen to me or my loved one?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why do children get sick and pass away?” “Why is there war and famine?” It’s the eternal question that seems to have an elusive answer. Have you ever asked God why?

We find the answer to this age-old question in Genesis 3. The moment Eve disobeyed God’s only command—not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden—sin entered the world and humans began to die. The perfect relationship, the perfect world, and the perfect creation ended.

People now lived by the sweat of their brow and the toil of their hands. The ground fought against them, producing thorns and weeds. Life was very different from when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, walked with the Lord in the cool of the day.

That’s the reason, my friend. That’s the reason for suffering and sadness. That’s the reason for heartache and hopelessness. The answer is that we live in a broken world. It fractured with the first taste of the forbidden fruit.

When people ask us why something bad has happened, we remind them that we are all broken, right down to our DNA. No aspect of life is untouched by that original sin in the Garden. But God has always had a plan so that we never have to face our brokenness alone.

Perhaps your faith is being tested. You have trusted God in faith, and you feel as if He owes you an answer. Tonight can I remind you that He is making a way for you to travel through this trying season? He isn’t waiting to see how you fare on the other side, what your faith will be when you get through it, or if you choose the door of hope or hopelessness. He is carrying you.

Momma, whatever crisis of faith you may be going through right now, lean on your relationship with the Lord. Lean on what you know His heart to be for you and your family. You know why bad things happen. But Jesus, the One who wages war on all injustice, is Faithful and True. You can continue to trust Him.

Tonight we pray for the momma whose faith feels tested in this season. Lord, she has hard questions. She wants to know why. She doesn’t understand what You are doing, Lord, or where You have been. Tonight we ask You to comfort this momma as only You can. Speak the words her heart needs to find rest and trust again. Help her see exactly where You have been . . . right there with her all along. You can handle her questions. Give her supernatural faith so she can get to the other side of this time in her life.

We ask in Jesus’s name, amen.

Jesus, even when my faith feels tested, I trust You in these specific areas: