Faith

For the past few weeks I have thought often of faith, of having faith in what God is speaking to you. I have thought about Biblical stories and of Bob Pierce and his description of "God room." I have thought of my own life and the times God has spoken to me. Faith involves expectation--"the evidence of things not seen." There are certainly times in my life when I have had trust and not faith because I did not know what God was doing! I did not have any expectation except that He was working to my good. I guess you could call that a general faith, but I'm not here to necessarily argue the distinction. My thoughts are only half formulated on this, but God is teaching me as we go along. I'm the type of person who would prefer to read the instruction manual first instead of "learning by doing." It's good for me to be stretched.

Anyway, I have been contemplating whether or not faith requires you being assured of what God wants. Perhaps that assurance takes faith too? Many times in the Bible God divinely appeared or sent messengers to people, and then it required faith for them to believe the message. Mary believing in a virgin pregnancy after an angelic visitation or, even more so, Joseph believing it after an angelic dream are examples of this. They had external confirmations, but what about people who do not? I think of what Jesus said to Thomas, along the lines of "You have believed because you have seen. Blessed are those who have believed without seeing." It's easier to believe something when we have outside confirmation, isn't it? And I think God understands this and is gracious to us in this. That is probably one of the reasons He gave us prophecy as an encouragement to the body. We are supposed to encourage one another in what God is telling us.

Sometimes it frightens me how much I question if God is speaking to me or my mind is making things up. When I am questioning, either I am not in close enough relationship with God that I recognize His voice or I am having doubts as to what He is telling me and am rationalizing them. I read the Bible and realize that I am not the only one who does this, but it is not commendable. I skimmed Hebrews 11 this morning and saw where I had underlined in the heroes of the faith section: "And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of their enemies." It's good to remember that God does not expect us to be strong apart from Him.

When you read that chapter, you may be surprised at the acts for which people were commended for their faith. For instance, Abel is commended for offering to God a more excellent sacrifice. Also, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days."
Well, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua, right? Sometimes I think I could believe anything if I had a supernatural message. Then I recall that I have the Holy Spirit speaking truth inside of me. Yes, Abraham had divine visitors who spoke of his son to come, but he also obeyed the voice of the Lord many times without (as far as we know) external confirmation. He left his homeland and also offered up his only son. Even though God seemed to be contradicting Himself (i.e. miraculously giving Abraham a son and then telling him to kill that son), Abraham still obeyed God and concluded that God was able to raise up his son from the dead. This astounds me. I think if God told me to kill my son, I would conclude that I was suffering from hallucinations and heatstroke and hysteria.

You know, I definitely do not understand all of God's ways. He just does not make sense to me. And that's beyond okay. He shouldn't make sense to me. He's beyond comprehension. There are many mysteries about Him and in Him. Yet, He tells me everything I need to know. Some things are really quite simple that I make overcomplicated, such as "Is it me or is it you, Lord?" And some things that I make simple are really quite unfathomable, such as grace.

Bottom line is that it takes a humble relationship to hear from the Lord and to have faith in what He is speaking. I've blogged recently about the difference between hope and faith and about God increasing our measure or gift of faith. At times it is hard to believe what God is telling you, especially if everyone else thinks you're nuts. (Look at Noah.) The solution is not to analyze the message (which I tend to do) but rather to press in closer to God, walking with God. He'll work it out. It's all going to be okay. Hard and painful perhaps, but okay. And that is something that should bring us indescribable joy.