Musing

Musing

Helen recently lent me a few books to read. One I managed a few pages before I realised that ‘The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, in which (spoiler alert) the main character ends up walking the length of England, was not the ideal book to read while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. Another was ‘The Sin of Certainty’ by Peter Enns, with the subtitle ‘why God desires our trust more than our “correct” beliefs’. Without spoiling this one as well, the premise is that our faith should be based more on a trust in who God is, rather than having the right beliefs. Having firm set black and white beliefs can set us up for a crisis when we are confronted with something that runs against those beliefs but appears to be ‘good’. This is something I’ve been conscious of over the past few years, and have tried to develop a mindset that allows for my ‘beliefs’ to be challenged.

There’s a catchy song that was released two years ago by Mumford & Sons called Believe. Paraphrasing, the lyrics are :

You may call it in this evening
But you’ve only lost the night
Present all your pretty feelings
May they comfort you tonight
And I’m climbing over something
And I’m running through these walls

I don’t even know if I believe
I don’t even know if I believe
I don’t even know if I believe
Everything you’re trying to say to me

So open up my eyes
Tell me I’m alive
This is never gonna go our way
If I’m gonna have to guess what’s on your mind

Say something, say something
Something like you love me
Less you want to move away
From the noise of this place

There’s a line of thought that this is the lyric writer’s protest against mainstream churches (Present all your pretty feelings May they comfort you tonight), while travelling a harder, more real path, and revealing what appears to be faith-doubts (I don’t even know if I believe Everything you’re trying to say to me). In then end, the line that resonates most is the plea/prayer “So open up my eyes…”.

This has helped me to stop worrying if my beliefs are right, and to be reassured that I know the Creator who does know what is good, and can help me see when I ask. Sometimes we need to ask God to open our eyes.