The mystery of tested faith

 

2 Kings 23; Psalm 142; Joel 2; Hebrews 5

Biblical faith is an odd commodity. Some try to describe it as knowing electricity will work so we confidently plug in the toaster. Or we know something is true because the source of it has been proven trustworthy. I’m not certain either illustration captures the mystery of faith. God’s Word says:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1–3)

Faith is just knowing something is true. It is being certain of it without any logical reason for it. The example is creation. Despite theories of big bang and evolution, God’s people just know that He did it and the stuff we can see or the so-called evidence for the theories are not valid. This is one reason why faith is mocked; it makes no sense to the rational mind.

Yet God takes the irrational and makes sense of it to those who trust Him. The best example is Jesus. He came to earth emptied of His equality with God and taking the form of a servant (see Philippians 2:5-8). He was fully God yet fully man and by obedience lived as fully man. The implications are huge and make no rational sense. Why would fully God do this? Why become like us? He must — so that He could be our perfect substitute and die for us — without any sin of His own yet living in a sinful world and suffering the sufferings that we suffer.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (Hebrews 5:7–9)

Jesus knew about suffering before He came here. As fully God, He could see what was going on in this world and how the struggle with sin and its consequences hurt humanity. He could also see that some struggled to obey and were unable. Yet it was not until He experienced those struggles Himself that His knowledge of them was made perfect or completed. Could this be like something so ordinary as looking at a picture of a rich dessert and knowing it was a prize winner, but not really knowing what it tastes like until I took a bite?

Faith is made complete by knowing it in experience. God enables that initial knowing, the faith part. It is as certain as Jesus knew that suffering was a real struggle, yet that knowledge was completed when He came here and suffered the same as we do. He did not sin like we do but, in His obedience, He experienced what He already knew.

The writer of Hebrews goes on . . .

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11–14)

I understand this dull of hearing thing. Trying to wrap my mind around the meaning of Jesus learning obedience makes my head hurt. Besides, it is easier to go with concepts than to be trained by experience. I can know God sustains His people in hardship without the hardship, can’t I? Well, maybe. I don’t want loss to know God sustains or sorrow to know that He gives joy. Yet these verses tell me if I want to be mature and perfected in my faith and to be like Christ, then what I ‘just know’ about God and godly living by faith must also be experienced. For this reason, Paul said that knowing Christ involves sharing in His sufferings (see Philippians 3:10).

APPLY: When my faith is tested by suffering, I must remember who God is and trust His wisdom and love for me. He does not arbitrarily do terrible things just so I ‘really know’ what I profess to believe. Like any child, I grow by inches, not huge leaps. Each truth He reveals and each experience He leads me into to perfect my faith is timed right not merely dumped on me. Not only that, His work in my life has purpose — that I will be transformed into the image of His Son. While the process is challenging, it is also an adventure that is worth every inch of the way.