Tom Gillespie, formerly president of Princeton Seminary, tells of a picture that hung on his office wall that depicted a gallant soldier in a fight with a fierce dragon. These words were inscribed at the bottom of the picture: No matter how right you are, no matter how hard you try, the dragon sometimes wins.

It could be added “No matter how much you pray the dragon sometimes wins.” It may be the death of a loved one, a failed marriage, or the loss of health. Even when you deserve it, you may be denied a promotion and go unappreciated. When you have the noblest intentions, you may be seen as having ulterior motives, and cruel criticism may dog you.

The most devoted Christians sometimes work hard and pray fervently that their business will succeed, and yet they go bankrupt. They do all the right things for their children, including praying for them, and yet they often go astray, and sometimes in the most tragic ways. Christians have nervous breakdowns, contract cancer, have dysfunctional homes, and die in horrendous accidents as well as people of the world.

This is why we must be wary of the “wealth and health” gospel preached by some churches. However well-meaning we may be, we can do harm when we use such passages as “Whatever he does shall prosper’ (Psalm 1:3) or “God heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3) in such a way as to imply that if one is a true-blue believer God will deliver him from such woes as poverty and cancer.

One dear sister from our church in a visit with Ouida at the hospital blessed us with her prayer and the reading of Psalm 91. As Ouida drifted off to sleep I quietly asked the sister if she had any problem with reading that Psalm to people in the hospital. Of course she didn’t.

I asked her what the parents whose child is dying of leukemia might make of such lines as, “No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling” (verse 10). The Psalm even says that thousands about you may be overcome by such evils, but not you! The afflicted parents might be led to say, “Is that what the Bible has to say to me in my unbearable pain -- that it won’t happen to me when it has happened to me?”

I explained that such “wealth and health” doctrine is typical of a certain kind of biblical literature known as “Wisdom,” and that it is challenged even by other writers of the Bible, especially by the authors of Job and Ecclesiastes, but also by the prophets, who told God’s people that they were destined to suffer even in captivity. And by our Lord himself who assures his followers, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).

Nowhere is this more forcefully set forth than in Hebrews 11. The writer first tells how heroes of faith subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. They were powerful and successful. But he goes on to show that other heroes of faith did not fare so well. They were mocked, scourged, slain by the sword, destitute, afflicted, tormented.

Weren’t those who were tormented and murdered as faithful as those who subdued kingdoms and defied lions?

While they all fought the dragon, some won and some lost. But they were all heroes of faith.

In our congregations there are “exemplary” families who seem to always win, and whose children marry well, are meaningfully employed, and stay in the church. But other families seem to be losers through no fault of their own -- health problems, financial problems, and children on drugs and in trouble with the law. We must guard against false judgment. The “losers” might actually be more devoted Christians than the “winners.”

Yes, the dragon sometimes wins, but not always, and in the end he loses and we win. That is our message to the grieved parents of a dying child. God does not promise believers that they will escape the storms of life, and that is not what faith and prayer are about. He rather promises that he will be with them and strengthen them amidst the storms. And that nothing -- not financial ruin, not a health crisis, not a wayward child, not an ugly divorce, not even embarrassment and disgrace -- can separate us from God’s love.

If God is for us, who or what can be against us? sums up our faith and resolve n our struggle against the dragons of this untoward world. And the struggle sweetens and deepens the eventual victory.

Notes

This is Ouida’s third week in the hospital, and the end is not in sight. Her ailing kidneys deplete her energy, and her want of energy robs her of appetite. To eat even a few bites is a chore. I told the doctor that I would no longer browbeat her into eating. He nodded his assent. He is trying to avoid tube-feeding, but it may come to that. There is of course some nutrition through IVs. She tells me she is too weak to talk. The kidneys are improving, but at an agonizingly slow pace. But she will make it. The dragon will not win this time!

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