On Facing Two Sets of Facts

On Facing Two Sets of Facts
Psalm 22: 19-31

Two friends of ours were giving us an amusing account of a difference they had discerned between the way they approach problems in their relationship and in other aspects of life. It was amusing yet also serious and profound. When there is a problem, the guy is inclined to look the other way, to pretend it isn’t there, because his confidence in life or in the relationship is imperiled by the possibility of a problem. In contrast, the girl is inclined to feel that the problem occupies the entire horizon, so that for her, too, the problem imperils her confidence in life and in the relationship, though she sees it as he doesn’t. It is somewhat analogous to the way we react to God when some tragedy happens. Some people avoid facing what has happened because it imperils their fundamental understanding of God as one who is faithful and loving and involved. Other people face the nature of what has happened and indeed find that their fundamental understanding of God is imperiled...