I want to talk about faith today. It’s a very broad topic, yet surprisingly simple when you get right down to it. I’ve shared about some of my recent struggles – being in the middle of a wilderness, the stigma of having doubts, and trying to remember my position is secure in Jesus – and I keep coming back to the same thing. We have a bad habit of complicating something that God simplified for us.
Okay, so I know for a fact that I’m speaking about myself in this. I over-think, I spend way too much time in unnecessary speculation, and I attribute to God characteristics that are far from being an accurate picture of who He is. I have a bad habit of making things more difficult than they need to be. I hate to admit it, but I will read about God’s promises and think that my faith isn’t strong enough or I just don’t deserve them, so that’s why I’m not experiencing them.
But I have faith to believe I’m saved – I don’t deserve grace, but here I am… able to drown in it. So how do I strengthen my faith further.
Every instance of something going sideways – marriage issues, kiddos out of line, financial woes, setback after setback – it seems to be human nature to start analyzing what we might have done wrong to deserve such a blow. It’s like a reflex! We seem to be stuck in a cause-and-effect mindset. We see a struggle and immediately believe that we must have stepped out of line somewhere to deserve it. It’s like we truly believe in karma even though we might say that we don’t believe in karma.
What does this have to do with faith? That’s right… that’s what I said I was going to talk about: faith. See? I mentioned that we tend to complicate things, and even writing about faith is something I find complicated. But God, since the beginning of time, has pointed us to simplicity in our relationship with Him. A relationship we can only have by faith.
The Bible holds what many refer to as the Faith Hall of Fame. It’s a detailed listing of the spiritual highs of people who displayed great faith in biblical times. I think it’s a generous overview of some of the greats. A very generous overview.
Take Moses for instance. By faith, we’re told, he left Egypt – not because he was afraid (Hebrews 11:27). But if we read in Exodus 2:14-15, we’re told that Moses was afraid, so he fled. Another example would be Sarah believing the promise that she would have a child (Hebrews 11:11). That’s not what I read in Genesis 18:10-15. It says she laughed at the promise, sarcastically questioned it, and then denied that she had laughed (she lied to God!). Is that really Faith Hall of Fame material?
But as I think about the lives represented in the Faith Hall of Fame, I also see the simplicity. Anyone can look at the individual stories and see the many, many lows. We can read about the lies told, the debauchery, the weaknesses, the fear… the lack of faith. We can see the roller-coaster of belief, doubt, belief, doubt, belief, doubt… over and over again.
But what does God choose to see? What does He choose to see when He looks at you and me?
When He looks at me, at any given moment, He doesn’t see the woman who once struggled with alcohol. He doesn’t see the woman who had a child outside of marriage. He doesn’t see the woman who was dishonoring and disrespectful to her parents. He doesn’t see the woman who walked away from Him for a decade, over-indulged, gave in to laziness, cheated, lied, hated, gossiped, doubted… you name it!
He doesn’t see those things.
We see those things. We see those things in others, and we see them in ourselves. It’s only natural that we assume that God looks at us and sees them, too.
Another person mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame is Gideon. God called him a mighty man of valor… while he was hiding due to being afraid of the Midianites (Judges 6:11-12)! God has come to get him moving – God had a job for Gideon to do, but that meant that Gideon needed to have faith that God would see him through. What does Gideon do? He demands proof that God is who He says He is after he asks the questions we all want to ask – even if we don’t want to admit it.
If You’re with us, then why is this happening?
Where are the miracles we’ve grown up hearing about?
Why would You call me to do this job when I’m a broke nobody who comes from this family?
I’m not sure these questions are coming from a place of faith, and I’m very sorry to say that they all strike a chord with me. Do those questions sound like they’re coming from a mighty man of valor? Of course they don’t! They sound like all of us on any given day!
God places a passion inside us to accomplish great things for His kingdom, but the first few closed doors or setbacks has us questioning our calling. We might even – like good old Gideon – start to question our worth.
Gideon requested signs from God to prove that He really was, well… God. But what if Gideon was really wondering if God was correct in calling him a mighty man of valor?
But we like to complicate things. We see what is right in front of us and take it as truth over God’s Word. We read about the promises in His Word about healing, but we’re still in pain. We read about the promises of His provision, but the cost of everything just keeps climbing while the paycheck stays the same. We rely on our five senses, but God sees so much more. And He’s calling us there, too.
Abraham, referred to as the father of our faith, naturally made it into the Faith Hall of Fame. Before he ever had the child God promised him, before Sarah ever became pregnant, God called him father of many nations. Abraham’s wife was barren, and they were both old. But just like with Gideon, God saw what we didn’t. And He knew we would need a bit of help believing.
God gave Abraham a couple pictures that he could reference at any moment of any day. Count the sand; count the stars. If Abraham needed a boost to his faith, all he had to do was step outside – feel the sand between his toes – to recall what God had said regarding the numerous descendants he would have.
Gideon required some proof, too. First, a wool fleece placed outside would be wet with dew in the morning, but the ground would be dry. Then, to follow it the next day, the wool fleece would be completely dry, but the ground would be wet. I wonder what Gideon thought when that wool fleece caught his eye in the years to come.
Reading through the Faith Hall of Fame, it really does a good job at putting a spotlight on some great moments of faith. But it also reminds me that I should ask the questions. Yes, I need to trust God. And in many ways, I do trust Him. But I am seeing that He understands my failings and will graciously welcome my questions. My questions won’t change His opinion of me, but by my asking them, they’ll strengthen my faith in Him.
Like God does so well, I want to get better at choosing to see what He says instead of what I (and the world) see. God called Gideon a mighty man of valor because that’s who God created Him to be. What does God call you? When we start believing we are who He says we are – when we believe what He says about us – I think we’ll finally see how simple faith really is.