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!

She who has ears to ear . . .

Deuteronomy 27:1–28:19; Psalm 119:1–24; Isaiah 54; Matthew 2

Being easily distracted, I often hear from God but forget what I heard, not because it was unimportant but because some other truth intrigued me and drew my thoughts away from the first one. This morning’s early prayer was that God would enlighten my darkness. Not knowing what to expect, the Lord surprised me by repeating that request:

Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Psalm 119:17–18)

The order of these words tells me that God must grant me life and the ability to conform to His will — then open my eyes so I can see the ‘outrageous’ things that He wants me to see, including what I asked for today. What amazes me is that the enlightenment He gave is not a new vision but repetition of a promise I’ve read many times along with the realization of how easily I forget it and turn from it — becoming worried or concerned that He has not yet answered my prayers for some of my family members. When I read this passage, I felt like God was shouting at me. Those shouts are in italics, the main one is in bold letters:

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:1–17)

Aside from not being a deserted wife, this describes some of my experience. Saved as an adult, I came into the kingdom thinking I knew what I was doing but realize now how much I relied on myself and didn’t seek the Lord. My family suffered because of my pride. God could have blessed them with salvation but chose instead to humble me. He persists, yet He also promises to take care of family members. Yet when I hear the promises but see little evidence that anything is happening, I become discouraged, even distracted away from walking by faith to relying on sight.

APPLY: Today God shouts at me. “Stop letting sight run your life and listen — I am going to teach your family and give them My peace. Focus on that and instead of letting what you see determine what you believe, let My promises fill your heart and give you peace.” Amen!

 

Another Blind Spot

Genesis 39; Job 5; Mark 9; Romans 9

Most of us know at least one person who researches everything. I’m thinking of the people who will not buy just any toaster but must examine Consumer Reports and every other evaluation possible until they find the very best one for their needs. They do thorough work but they can have blind spots.

Job’s ‘friend’ Eliphaz claimed to have searched out Job’s situation and that his conclusion was correct. He told Job that all he had to do was deal with the sin in his life. Then God would bless him . . .

You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.” (Job 5:26–27)

Toasters are one thing but when it comes to knowing the needs of others and the mind of God, even the most careful research fails to cannot connect all the dots. Each of us, including the wisest of Bible scholars, must admit to blind spots.

“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. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

We are mere mortals. God does not tell us everything. Who could handle such knowledge? We would run interference anyway, like Eliphaz did. Instead, God lets us in on what we need to know. In this situation, Job’s faith was put to the test by terrible trials. Even he was not told why this was happening to him.

God’s revelations are always a mystery. One person might read the Bible and ‘get it’ but another reads it and has no clue. Jesus spoke clearly to His disciples about His death and resurrection, but they did not grasp what He said.

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:30–32)

Paul give an important example of how this mysterious revelation happens. God choose the Jews to be His people and in giving them the Law, they were held responsible to keep it, but they did not. Their failure was that missing ingredient, the blind spot of faith.

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30–33)

The Jews did not realize their inability to keep God’s Law, and if they did, they did not repent and turn to God for grace. They kept trying, reshaping the Law and became increasingly blind to their shortfall. When Jesus came, they were so bent on saving themselves by their works that they missed seeing Him as God’s revelation of Himself. Instead of turning to Him in faith and trusting Him as their Savior, they put Him to death. They didn’t get it. They were done in by their blind spot.

Today, I’m in the dark about God’s purpose in my sudden nosebleed. He says He uses all things for my good, yet this threatens travel to my sister’s Celebration of Life on Saturday. Instead of speculating His reasons, I am trusting Him. He may choose to reveal why this is happening or not. In the meantime, I will obey what I do know and trust in Him with my blind spots.

Blinded by . . .

I don’t often become angry. I don’t mean that peeved feeling when I stub my toe or someone cuts me off on the freeway and narrowly misses my bumper. I mean the anger that blows up and yells. Yesterday, I got angry like that.

At first, it was because someone mistreated me — I was totally blindsided. Then it was because that person showed no hint of remorse. Later, as I reviewed my history with this person, I realized for many years I’ve been criticized for little things, not thanked for my generosity nor given consideration for much of anything. I kept expected good things and was deeply disappointed — again. So I yelled.

Later, the Lord showed me His TLC and reminded me that I don’t need to ‘try harder’ but to stop all expectations. It is not my fault that this person is ungrateful and inconsiderate. I need to focus on what I need to do, prayerfully trusting Him to take care of others as He takes care of me.

The book of Hebrews as a long section on ‘rest’ which refers to that kind of trust, the trust that is unflappable, that can take all sorts of abuse because I know God is in control. I am ‘resting’ in Him.

Not only that, I’m to walk by faith not by what I see. If I am trusting the Lord, I will be calm, even in the storms. If I am not, I will slide into not trusting Him and some form of sin. Today’s Scripture reading says this:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12–15)

I do not want to be hardened by sin — and sin does do that. I can see it in the person who I shouted at yesterday, but I can also see it in the person in the mirror. My emotions were up and down. I wanted to get even, to hurt back, to stomp on, and yet at the same time kept hearing God say:

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26–27)

By the time I went to sleep, the anger settled back into pain and Jesus kept His arms about me until I went to sleep. He knows the pain of being misunderstood, mistreated, abused, disrespected, all of that. And He also said, “Forgive them Father. They know not what they do.” I’m not sure I can say that yet, but He holds my hand.

This morning, I looked at these verses that talk about the corruption caused by sin. They also remind me of what I already know — 

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20–24)

I am responsible for my own sin and yet I cannot fix it — nor can I fix the sin of others, not with anger and not even with forgiveness. Only Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit can change people. This is one more thing to put into the hands of Jesus.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord God, You are far more understanding of what goes on in human hearts than we are. You know me far more deeply than I know myself. As I walk with You and as my prayer life deepens, I am increasingly aware of the deceptions Satan tries to use to keep me from faith and from praying. Sin is also deceptive. While I feel my pain and anger is justified, I am willing to let go of that. You know. You also know what to do with the person who was so terribly rude and thoughtless. I thank You for the support of bystanders and for giving me the sense of Your presence and of Your arms around me. I also thank You for Your incredible goodness to me.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- the ability to move on through the day while feeling so sad.

- the surprise visits from a couple of friends.

- peace in my heart because God is in charge.

- leftover turkey that makes such great bunwiches.

- new opportunities to glorify Jesus.