“Thinking rightly about God.” This is one of the phrases my hubby said and absorbed in seminary. Just lolling the words on my tongue gets me excited. Why? Because theology matters, folks. You may say, “Well, I’ll leave all that theological wrangling to theologians and professors. I don’t have time.”

The truth?

You must think deeply about what you actually believe. Who you actually believe.

Who is God? Who are you in relationship to Him? What does He require? What makes Him smile? What grieves him? Do you truly believe He is sovereign?

I’ve been thinking a lot about people and theology and tragedy. And this is what I’ve come to see. Tragedy reveals your theology. You may say, “I believe God will provide.” But what if you lost your job? Is that still your belief?

We faced this when we lost our home to a conman while we were missionaries in France. Of course, my initial reaction was shock and anger and fear. Initially, I worried that we’d lose our credit, our home, our financial reputation. But as all that settled into me, I stopped myself. In the quiet, the Lord said, “Mary, do you truly believe I own the cattle on a thousand hills? Or not?”

I wrestled. I had said I believed that. Many times. But now I had the chance to truly see if my theology was reality.

“Yes, Lord. I believe. I trust You,” I said. In that moment, the most beautiful and counterintuitive peace settled over me. And then we lived happily ever after.

Nope.

We did lose the house.

Our credit was thrashed and trashed.

We went through foreclosure.

But the miracle of the ordeal was this: God infused perfect, surprising peace in me throughout the 6-month-long trouble.

And ever since that time, my worry quotient when it comes to money is much, much lower.

This is why knowing what you believe and Who You believe is important today. Because there will be tragedy knocking someday. The question is: Will your theology stand up to the tragedy?