To no one’s surprise I found myself preaching on the theme of ‘justification by faith’ last Sunday morning. After all we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and it was this idea that split the church asunder in the mid 1500’s.

It could be argued that no verse has impacted the world as the one that gave rise to that iconic phrase. This is how it reads in Paul’s letter to the Romans. “The Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight” he wrote. “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life”

Paul was trying to stress that eternal life is a gift, and that God will give it freely to anyone who would like it. We do not have to earn it (in fact we never could). We simply have to put our trust in all Jesus said and did.

Sadly by Luther’s time this wonderful truth had been obscured and distorted by much of the church’s teaching and it is a truth that needs to be reaffirmed in every generation. John Wesley rediscovered it in the 18th century for example and the rest as they say is history.

Like Luther he had been a very devout churchgoer, so devout in fact that he and his followers had earned the nickname "Methodists". But on the 24 May 1738 he suddenly realized what Paul was trying to say and his “heart was strangely warmed” and he was filled with a wonderful sense of peace and joy.

But true faith is more than a warm glow. It is a daily challenge as many a Christian has discovered to their cost. In fact if you spend a little time looking for the origin of that phrase you will see that it was coined by the Hebrew prophet Habakkuk way back in the 7th century BC. And when he used the phrase he was talking about the kind of faith that continues to trust God even when everything around you seems to be going pear shaped.

In fact Habakkuk came to the conclusion that there are times in life when we simply won’t have a clue why God lets some horrible things happen. All we can do is trust that He is in control and everything will eventually work out for our good.

The Christians of Sutherland Springs, Texas are facing this sort of challenget. They must surely be asking God “Why did you allow that gunman to enter the church and wreak such devastation? “ Why did you let him kill and injure so many people, especially those little kids? It just doesn’t seem to make sense”.

I’m glad we have Habbakuk’s story in the Bible because it shows me that it is not wrong to complain and to tell God that we are really confused and deeply upset by what He allows to happen. He can cope with anything we say to Him. Come to think of it He knows how we are feeling anyway!

But in the final analysis Habakkuk reminds me that when it comes down to it I have to make a choice: Will I trust God when the going gets tough? For that’s how you can recognise a true believer. The righteous man lives by his faith.

Michael (not his real name) has always been an inspiration to me. I will never forget the day he told me how painful it was to lose a daughter at a very young age. He was in despair, he said, and doubted if he would ever be able to preach again.

But then he remembered something Jesus said to his disciples. “You don’t understand what I’m doing at the moment but you will one day”.

Those few words gave him the strength to carry on. Who knows, they may do the same for you.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]