Faith in the face of forsakeness : that is what establishes the faithfulness of Christ. This alone is grounds for concluding that we must do likewise if our faith is to be real, and not the offer of a quid pro quo. But it is hard to do. We want to know why, and never do know. It takes courage to believe in a God who offers no answers except his own forsakenness. Faith has power if it is girded with courage, to stand at the abyss and to not know why, to suffer for no known reason. Except to realize that it is only in those conditions and with no assurances that faith will be rewarded, that one is acting in obedience to the call of faith. “The quality of our suffering determines our faithfulness”.
As for the objection that what is described is a one-side relationship, a one-sided conversation, a shouting into the cave without answer : The nature of the God that is the object of faith, at least the faith described, is of a God who creates this world, all of it including its frustrations and inequities, who bestows the faith that requires the courage to shout and hear only echoes, but who has intervened in history in a way that allows us to reconcile ourselves with our lives only by recognizing that we are not shouting to an empty cave. And if we listen in faith, without expectation that we will hear anything, we do hear God, not shouting back but speaking his presence even as he hides it.
A God who shouts back is not a God. It is, as Barth said, merely humanity shouting in a louder voice. And shouting with an expectation of a two-sided conversation is not faith, it’s a solicitation for a quid pro quo.
