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Tag: faith

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Stress, stress, so much stress. Every day seems to bring a new problem that I don’t know the solution for. I know I am not alone. Lamentations 3:1-20 (and for that matter Lamentations 1-2) recounts the stresses, the devastation really, that Jeremiah faced. The people of Israel had been taken captive and Jerusalem had been destroyed. Jeremiah lamented his situation, dwelt on it and was completely depressed and hopeless. When I look at what Jeremiah was facing, and what others around me are facing it helps to put my problems into perspective. But as long as I focus on my problems, I, like Jeremiah, will be downcast.

The people of Israel were being punished for their acts of rebellion. That is not the reason for our trials. Romans 8:1 tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But the Lord still uses these trials to restore us to righteousness when necessary and also to teach us and shape us into the people that he wants us to be. Romans 5:3-5 tells us that we can rejoice in our sufferings, because they will produce endurance, character and hope. Hope is not merely wishful thinking; it is a confident expectation that God will keep His promises to us just as He kept His covenant with Israel.

In Lamentations 3:21, Jeremiah changes his focus. He looks instead to God and realizes that it is because of God’s mercy that the tribe of Israel was not consumed altogether. And because of God’s mercy the same is true for us. The stressful situations may be endless, but the loving kindness and compassion of the Lord never end either. Every day He has new mercies for us. (Lamentations 3:22-24) Let us, as Jeremiah did, put our hope and trust in Him.

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The Israelites were slow learners. They had witnessed many signs and miracles attesting to the power of God, and yet they still had trouble believing. Exodus 7:14-11:10 recounts the ten plagues that God brought on Egypt to convince Pharoah to let the Israelites go. God led them out of Egypt, and yet when they got to a place where they appeared to be trapped on all sides (Exodus 14:2-3) they forgot that they could rely on the power and the love of God. We do the same thing all too often.

When the Israelites felt the Egyptians closing in on them, they became afraid and cried out. But they did not cry out for help in prayer to God; they cried out in sarcasm and complaint against Moses. (Exodus 14:11-12) They would rather continue to live in slavery to the Egyptians than to face the unknown and trust God to keep His word and bring them to the land He had promised them. (Exodus 13:5)

What was Moses’ response to this outcry? He comforted and encouraged them. He told them not to be afraid, and that God would surely deliver them. God would fight for them; they needed only to be still. (Exodus 14:13-14) The end of verse 14 has been translated a few ways that give a slightly different interpretation. The NET Bible says, “and you can be still”. This is a privilege: you don’t have to worry or fret; everything is taken care of. The New Living Translation says, “Just stay calm.” The New Revised Standard Version says, “you have only to keep still”. Other versions say that they needed to be quiet or silent. In any case, the Israelites just needed to stand there and keep their mouths shut. It doesn’t really seem like so much to ask, considering the solution that the situation called for, but you can bet that it was a challenge for them.

There are other passages in the Bible that tell us that we must be prepared, and that we need to not be lazy, but to earn our own way. (Proverbs 21:31, Proverbs 24:27, Proverbs 24:33-34, II Thessalonians 3:11-12) How do we know when we need to act or just wait on the Lord? The key, I think, is where we have put our attention. If we are focused on God instead of our circumstances, He will guide us, and He will give us peace. If we have ended up in a situation through our own bad choices, we need to ask Him for mercy and forgiveness, but if He has brought us into a situation, we can be sure that He already knows the way out. We need to trust Him. Remember that Peter was able to walk on water as long as he was concentrating on Jesus, but as soon as he started thinking about the strong wind, he began to sink. (Matthew 14:28-30) As my friend Ann Mainse would say, “Keep your eyes on Jesus; it’s all about Him.”

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There are so many scary things happening in our world lately: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes erupting, civil wars, governments being overthrown…. It is not surprising that people would be afraid, but the encouragement of II Timothy 1:7 came to my mind. I think we need to understand what is meant by fear in this verse. There is certainly a place for being cautious when we are facing dangerous situations, but we also need to be brave and trust in God’s power. Words like “Fear not” and “Be strong and courageous” are used often throughout the Bible. (Matthew 14:27, Luke 1:30, John 6:20, Jeremiah 1:8, Deuteronomy 31:23, I Corinthians 16:13)

When Paul wrote to Timothy, it was not in the context of natural disasters or political upheaval; he was exhorting him and encouraging him not to be timid or cowardly when facing people who would disagree with his ministry. In II Timothy 1:5 Paul expresses his confidence in Timothy’s faith, then in II Timothy 1:6 reminds him to make use of the gifts that God has given him. Paul knew that the spirit of fear did not come from God. This wasn’t just a theory for Paul; he had been through enough trials (II Corinthians 11:24-33) that it would have been perfectly understandable for him to be afraid. Instead he relied on the power of God.

You, too, have access to God’s power. That doesn’t mean that you won’t face hardships; it means that you have a source of strength and courage to get through them. If God has called us to do something, He will give us everything we need to do it. (Philippians 4:13). He desires for us to rely on Him. (Psalm 27:14) As Paul told Timothy, there is no need to be afraid.

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David Teems, author of Majestie: The King Behind the King James Bible, has said, “God is not in the business of explaining things. He’s not obligated to explain anything to us. But we live in a generation today where we feel like we’re entitled to an explanation.” Yes, wouldn’t it be nice if God would let us in on His plan and tell us what our role is in it? Decision-making would be so much easier. Deuteronomy 29:29 lets us know that that won’t happen. God has all the answers, and He only gives us some of them. Sometimes He gives us answers in the form of thoughts or knowledge, but He most certainly gives us answers through the Bible. Because we have access to His Word, we have become responsible for the information that it contains.

Proverbs 25:2 indicates that we (even though we aren’t kings) should not only feel free, but obligated to search out the truth, to find the answers, to investigate the best way of doing things. The title of Proverbs 25 tells us that these proverbs were collected by King Hezekiah, so it is natural that he would be concerned about the responsibility of kings to lead and govern their people. Today, however, we are all required to lead and govern our own lives, and the wisdom of this passage is just as valid for us. Investigate, study and learn what it is that you can know, but realize that you can’t know it all. If we could know all that God knows, He wouldn’t be God. We can know enough, however, to have faith in His trustworthiness.

The passage in Deuteronomy says that we have this information so that we might obey God’s laws. James 4:17 tells us that because we know what is good, we are obligated to do it.

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I’m a bit of an idealist, so I don’t like it when things go wrong, especially when bad things happen to people who don’t deserve it.  It’s one thing to deal with the consequences when you’ve made a mistake, but if you didn’t do anything wrong, it just seems so unfair.  Either way though, it is good to be able to call on God to rescue you.

Do you ever wonder if God really hears you when you pray?  Sometimes we feel like the pain, frustration and struggles will go on forever.  He says that He has a good plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11), but do you ever want to negotiate with Him?  Tell Him your side of the story?  Give Him your ideas for the plan?  I think that the Psalmist David must have felt that way when he wrote Psalm 13.  In the first two verses he asked “How long?” four times.  He felt ignored, anxious and threatened by his enemy.  We don’t know for sure, but he may have been running for his life at this point.  David didn’t end his psalm the same way he started it though.  He moved from complaint (Psalm 13:1-2) to prayer (Psalm 13:3-4) to praise (Psalm 13:5-6).

Philippians 4:6 tells us not to be anxious about anything, but with thankful hearts to present all of our requests to God.  This is what David did.  He asked the Lord to answer him, to revive him, and to save him, not only so that he would be saved, but so would the reputation of God’s name.

What caused David to turn from despair to praise?  Hope in God’s unfailing love and mercy.  David had faith that God was still God and would keep His covenant with him.  We must do the same when we face trials that have gone on so long that we think they will go on forever.  When we have lost our joy and our hope, we must cling to our faith.  We must remember that God is God and more importantly that we are not.  Even when we don’t understand what He is doing, we must believe that He does.  We know that He understands every trial that we go through (Hebrews 4:14-16), that He will not give us more trials than we are able to bear (I Corinthians 10:13) and that He longs to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11).  Think back on how God has brought you through trials before.  He will again.

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In my last post, I discussed Paul’s teaching that we are justified by faith and faith alone.  James 2:14-26 is often seen as a contradiction of Paul, but what James said was not directed at Paul, and for that matter what Paul said had not been directed at James.  Paul was speaking to a group of people who felt that they could earn their righteousness by obeying the law to the letter, and often to the point of neglecting mercy and compassion.  James was speaking to his brothers and sisters—those who already claimed to have a faith in God but were not showing it in their actions.

James is not saying that we need to have both faith and works in order to earn salvation.  If that were the case, we would be claiming that Christ is not our only saviour, but that we are saviours for ourselves.  This is not supported in the rest of scripture at all, and it is not what James is teaching either.  Faith in Christ is all we need for salvation, but true faith is more than just saying so; it is more than just intellectual agreement.  That is an essential first step, but it is not the last step.  True faith naturally results in obedience to Christ, and in the character of Christ being displayed through us.  Good works are the only way that other people will be able to see our faith.

If we were to go to court to claim our innocence in some matter, we would be judged on our actions; that is how the jury would decide if what we said is true.  The same principle applies to our faith.  Our actions are the evidence that shows the world that our faith is real.  Good works are the fruit of the tree that has faith as its root.  You are known by the fruit that you bear.   (Matthew 12:33)

It is a case of what motivates us.  Are we doing what we believe is right, as Paul’s audience was, because we are trying to earn gold stars, or are we doing what we believe God wants us to do because we love Him and want to serve Him?  Ephesians 2:8-10 ties it all together for us.  We are saved by faith, but we were designed to do good works.

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In Romans 5:1-11 Paul discusses the benefits of being justified by faith.  Years ago, I memorized Romans 5:1-2 in the New International Version:  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

First of all, we are justified by faith.  I once heard someone define the term justified as “just [as] if I’d” never sinned.  Through faith, and only by faith, we are worthy to share in the benefits that Paul describes here.  They are gifts given through the grace of God to those who believe.  The NET Bible translates “justified” as “declared righteous”.  We don’t start out righteous, but we don’t have to clean ourselves up before we can be accepted by God.  All we have to do is have faith, believe.  (Romans 4:3-5)

The term peace here does not simply mean a contented feeling, but a state of peace.  It is not the peace of God, but peace with God.  We are not on opposing sides.  We can join God’s team, and the only way to get on the team is if we are justified by faith.  And this is only possible because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Jesus acts as a mediator for us to reconcile us to God.  As soon as we make the decision, we are at peace with God.  So, our faith plus Jesus gets us access to God’s grace.  We no longer have to worry about God’s wrath because He is surrounding us with His grace, His undeserved favour.  It was grace that allowed us to be justified by faith in the first place.

This all brings us to the hope of the glory of God.  Hope, as it is used in the New Testament, is not defined as wishful thinking but as expectation.  We expect to see the glory of God; we are looking forward to seeing the glory of God—to see God as He truly is.  We know that we will see God clearly in eternity, but we can also see glimpses of God’s glory now if we keep our spiritual eyes open.  (Titus 2:11-13, I Corinthians 13:12)

Sometimes we can get discouraged by all the things that we have to face in life, and maybe we sometimes think that God is punishing us.  He’s not.  It’s true that we may have to face the consequences of our unwise choices, but this is not punishment, because, if we are justified by faith, we are no longer under God’s wrath.   If we dwell on the promises of these two verses, perhaps our hope will be renewed.  What we are going through today is small in the light of eternity.  Even still, God is on our side.