When Faith and Sight Intersect

Yesterday we experienced an answer to prayer, a prayer we trusted God to answer in His time and will, yet when the answer came, our reaction was great surprise and joy. It reminded me of the story in Acts where Christians were praying for Peter who was in jail. God released him and he went to the prayer place. The woman who answered the door was so surprised that she left him at the door to run and tell the others. We believe God hears and answers, so why are we so surprised!

The Bible tells me to walk by faith, not by sight. That is, don’t rely on what I see but on God who can change things that I see. Our prayers are not about seeing but trusting, yet when He answers and the answers are visible, we are surprised. Perhaps surprise is more about human nature than faith? I’m not certain.

Today’s devotional is about four ways God reveals His will to us. They are through: Scripture, circumstances, convictions He gives to other advisers, and that inner ‘voice’ of the Holy Spirit in our minds. All these will agree if the Lord is indeed speaking. The world, our old nature, and the devil may not, but God's voice will always be in harmony with itself no matter how many different ways He may speak.

The Scriptures come first, so knowing the Word of God is vital, not just knowing what it says but rightly interpreting it. This will be in harmony with the Holy Spirit for He is the One who reveals truth to us. That is vital, but so is our receptivity. For instance, we need to be like little children. As one pastor said, the distinctive nature of a child is receptivity:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; (Matthew 11:25)

Of course that means being a child that is in His family. That happens through relationship. Jesus said that eternal life is knowing God (John 17) and that happens also by revelation:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)

God also reveals what I need to know so I can be transformed. That happens as He reveals Jesus to me and as I gaze at Him, I am transformed into that likeness.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:17-18)

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)

(God) was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; (Galatians 1:16)

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:15)

In these verses, faith does become sight. That is, when God reveals Jesus to me and I am changed, and those changes are meant to be visible and like Jesus. When He tells me what to do and I obey, His revelation is seen in my obedience. If I have a contrary idea and He reveals that to me, the resulting change is seen in my talk and walk. Even so, those changes happen because I’ve believed God.

In other words, a life of faith is not only about what is believed but the visible results that are a result of believing what God reveals to me. As James says:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14–17)

PRAY: Jesus, I can see how that well-known statement, “walk by faith not by sight” is talking about my life. Trust is not based on what I can easily see, but on who You are and what You tell me.  However it is clear that a ‘walk by faith not by sight’ is effective because that walk can be seen by those who watch me or anyone else whose faith governs how they live. May I faithfully and visibly display Your grace and goodness.

Seeing His Glory

The biblical test for a prophet is strict. If they claim what they say is from God and it does not come to pass or winds up being false, then that person is a false prophet. Only true prophets are 100% all the time. This is important. The Scriptures claim to be revealed to us from God. Those who misread them can find seeming contradictions but even the ability to understand what God is saying comes from God. If He does not reveal truth, I could read the Bible over and over (and did for many years) and not have a clue what God is telling me.

In the OT, the words translated REVEAL are used several hundred times, some of them for when God reveals Himself or what He plans to do. He did this in several ways, including through dreams. When the Pharaoh of Egypt had a dream, Joseph was called to interpret it. In Genesis 41:25, Joseph said, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.”

Most of His revelations helped God’s people understand His will: Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

1 Samuel 9:15–16. Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”

The most important revelation in both OT and NT is that God revealed Himself and His salvation plan to humanity. The psalmist speaks as if it had already been done:

Psalm 98:2–3. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

The prophet declared about preparations made — a highway in the desert — for the coming of Jesus, speaking about a future revelation of God to the world:

Isaiah 40:5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” and Isaiah 56:1. Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.”

Daniel 2:22;28. Also says, “He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him” and “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries . . . .”

In the NT, Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation of Himself. All that He did and said reveals God as Hebrews 1:1–3 says:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Jesus understood that the power of God to reveal truth was vital in His salvation plan. He said in Matthew 11:25, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” and in Luke 10:22, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Even His disciple were clueless without revelation from God. John 21:1 says, “After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way . . . .” and this is verified again by 1 Corinthians 2:10: “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” This passage later adds, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

This is why Paul says God “was pleased to reveal his Son to me” and encourages us that if we were not mature and need to think differently, “God will reveal that also to you.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. All revelation comes from God. He can use thoughts, dreams, or other people, but verification is through His Word. For that reason, I gaze at its pages and ask Him every morning to reveal His glory that I otherwise would never be able to see.

 

Jesus is the answer…

When my hairdo will not cooperate, I usually call it a “hair don’t” which is something like my description of the opposite of willpower – I call it “won’t power.”

Some say that the human will is God’s avenue into the soul. While He can touch our emotions and wants to reform our thinking (see Romans 12:2), He must first find a surrendered heart and life. Of course, Jesus is the perfect example. He came to do the will of God. He gave up His life from the time He was born and did as God asked right through to being crucified for the sins of mankind.

He speaks of His surrendered will when talking with a woman at a well. The disciples had gone to buy lunch and when they returned, the woman had put her faith in Christ. As she left to bring others who hear Jesus, the disciples returned. Seemingly oblivious to the spiritual significance of what was happening, their focus was on lunch.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:31–34)

This is total surrender, yet when Jesus identified with humanity in becoming one of us, He was sinless. No part of Him resisted the will of God in a selfish way. That is why I need Him to conquer sin. My will is too often ‘won’t’ and cannot trusted.

Watchman Nee, a Chinese martyr, separated the soul into those three parts: intellect, emotions, and volition. He said that none of these connect with God. That connection happens when the Spirit of God speaks to our spirit and transforms it from a dead and silent part of our being to a living, God-fearing force. His Spirit unites with our spirit to make a new creation, and out of a new inner life our soul begins to function as God intended. 

The intellect or mind cannot understand the things of God apart from the Spirit. They are hidden to even the most wise on this earth, but “…these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit…” (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Emotions are universally known to be unreliable also. Consider those with a crush on a movie star, or fury at a child for spilling its milk. Consider the feeling of loneliness in a room full of people, or sudden overwhelming grief when you thought grief was finished. While emotions have great purpose, their whimsy means I cannot plan or rule my life by them alone.

My will is tainted by sin as much as every other part of me. I have those days when my will power is ‘won’t’ power and days when my will to do right battles with what seems a stronger desire to do the opposite. While God wants a surrendered will, that too must be touched by His Spirit. As hard as I try, I cannot make it happen by the powers of my own soul. Even if I want to do right, and my brain tells me it is right, and my emotions are on the same team, sin can stir the pot so that I still don’t do what I want to do.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:15–20)

Paul wrote this. Many argue that he was not saved at the time, but if Christians are honest, all of us struggle with this perplexity. Paul’s solution to the problem is my solution too… recognizing first that this is sin in my flesh that causes all the trouble and second, that the only way to battle it is in the power of the Holy Spirit given through faith in Jesus Christ.

Not only that, this battle would not exist apart from Jesus for I would just do whatever I wanted. It is because of Him that I am aware of sin and that old nature that still wants to take over and rule my life. So much for my willpower. It cannot rescue me, just as logic or even a strong hatred for sin are not enough to deliver me from its power.

The pat answer in Sunday School class is Jesus Christ, and despite our chuckles about that, the pat answer for life’s moral and daily choices is also Jesus Christ. I can want to do the will of God, but without Him supplying the power, my will is useless.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)