Faith is about who I trust not how I think or feel…

 

A friend struggles with praying for a prodigal son. She trusts God when she can see results, but as soon as the son shows no interest, she panics that God is not listening to her prayers. This is the dilemma of a faith that relies on sight rather than on the promises of God. If that ‘faith’ was what God values, then a blind person could never trust God.

Today’s reading makes this statement that claims there are no different kinds of faith:

“Men talk about a feeling faith, a living faith, a saving faith, an intellectual faith, a historical faith, and a dead faith. But it is all a waste of words; for either we trust or we do not trust. If we trust, we have faith; and if we do not trust, we do not have faith; and that is all there is to it.”

The person who wrote this left out an important point: the object of faith. I’ve heard people say they ‘feel' God will answer, or it ‘makes sense’ that God will do it, and so on, or they rely on their own goodness to get into heaven, but my faith needs to trust in something more reliable than my feelings or my reasoning or my own goodness. God even says that all my righteousness is like filthy rags. The object of faith is always the Lord and what He says. Anything else is empty faith. Trust might be there, even a sincere trust, but the object of trust is faulty.

To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. (Isaiah 40:18–20)

How can any created and inanimate object be worthy of worship? How can even the most costly likeness of anything give comfort in sorrow or even hear my prayers?

As for feelings, they are unreliable too. I had a bad dream last night and woke up filled with despair. Not one thing changed in my life but the dream was excessively negative. I even wanted to die. But how can a dream change what God says? For example:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3–10)

Walking by sight falls short as well. Did God love me more today than yesterday because someone gave me an unexpected gift today? The Bible says that God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) His love is expressed in blessings, but in their absence, I can still know He loves me:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37–39)

If I don’t feel loved, if I don’t see loving actions, if my friends turn away, if no one calls, does that mean God stopped loving me? Faith is Him and His Word, not in the up/down events of life or in emotions or observations — only in what He shows me about Himself.

PRAY: Jesus, You are the object of my faith. You promise to save me, keep me, take me to be with You. You keep your promises. No matter what is going on or not happening, You are totally reliable and I can trust You with all my heart. Thank You for being who You are!