What is Faith?

 

This is going to be a difficult post to write. Please don't just agree with me. Offer you opinions and views; even if they are not like mine. If your pastor or vicar or priest has a view on this please share it too.

God said to Abraham, "I will bless her, (his wife Sarah), and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
(Genesis 17:15-21)

I have often wondered why God tests us if He knows already how we will behave and the outcome of our behaviour. Is it to make us stronger perhaps? To make us trust Him more?

In the passage above, God promises Abraham that through his son Isaac there will be many descendants. 

Let's imagine God spoke to you and He promises that through your offspring good things will happen in future. You are happy and you trust the Lord your God. And then ... ... ...

Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. "Take your son," God said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will show you." So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated. (Genesis 22:1 onwards)

If this story happened today the police and social services would soon be knocking at Abraham's door.  Poor Isaac would never recover from the traumatic experience. And Sarah would probably divorce Abraham.

Why would God go to such dramatic lengths to test Abraham's love and obedience? If God is all-knowing, surely He would know that Abraham loved Him and would obey. Did God not think of the traumatic effect this episode would have on Isaac?

But let us look beyond the human emotions which we often use as a measuring yardstick when we consider earthly things. Here, God is not just testing Abraham for the sake of testing him. He is also strengthening his faith in God.

We all believe we have faith in God. But that faith is really only truly tested when we go through a bad time in our lives and we learn that we are not alone. God is with us. Protecting us as He has promised. 

Without experiencing the bad times, and without experiencing God's hand in helping us through these bad times; then our faith is only just that! A word ... a blind belief ... which we don't even know why we believe it, or whether we could truly maintain it when things go wrong. 

You see ... our bad times are an opportunity for us to experience God's closeness to us. To experience His love and protection. Our bad times are not just a test for the sake of a test.

Of course, God knows how we will react to the "test" as we perceive it. Yet He let's us experience it in order to strengthen our faith and to experience His love and protection.

Remember that God had already promised Abraham that through Isaac there would be many descendants. This would not have happened if Isaac had been killed. So Abraham had a tough decisions to make. Either trust God's earlier promise or not.

Note that Abraham trusted God. On the way up the mountain with Isaac he said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." (Genesis 22:5)

He said we will come back to you. So in his heart he knew that God would not let him go through with sacrificing Isaac as a burnt offering.

As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. (Genesis 22:6 onwards)

Abraham had faith indeed. He knew he was being tested; yet he held on tight to God's earlier promise that through Isaac there will be many descendants.

When I go through difficult times, (often), I ask the Lord, "Why are you testing me so if you already know how I would react?" 

Perhaps instead I should thank God for reminding me that in all of the difficult times I have been through in life He was always there beside me. Now, looking back, I am sure of it. Too many experiences for me to mention or tell you about. But on each one I am certain He helped me through them.

Now read this from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out”. (1 Corinthians Chapter 10 Verse 13).

Let’s face it – God is not in the business of losing His followers. Those devoted to Him. It does not further His cause one bit if His own followers are so tested by the world’s evils that they loose their Faith in Him. This is contrary to His love for us. He will not allow us to just perish.

Also, let us remember that although God spared Isaac, He did offer His only Son Jesus as a sacrifice for us. A sacrifice which Jesus accepted willingly to redeem us from our sins.

What kind of business is God in?

Let's imagine a shopkeeper or a tradesman; and every time he is approached by a customer or a client he does not serve them, he ignores them and drives them away.

How long do you think this person will remain in business? Pretty soon word would spread round about his attitude and very few people, if any, would bother to go to him for his merchandise.

Let's now consider a different situation. We pray to God for help, for advice, or for some worry or trouble on our mind. We pray and pray and ... nothing. No response. Nil. Our situation, or whatever we are praying for, is still the same if not worse.

We get discouraged, we doubt, and in some cases some of us probably cease to believe altogether.

It is easy of course to sing God's praises and wave our hands in the air saying Hallelluya or whatever when things are going well in our lives. Or type fancy slogans on our Blogs or social media urging others to type Amen if they agree.

But what happens when things go wrong, really wrong. And we pray and pray and don't seem to get an answer.

Is it OK then to get a little angry and impatient with our God and tell Him honestly what's on our mind?

I think Yes. It is OK to let God know our real feelings. He can take our anger. After all, He did take our anger when hanging there on the Cross. At least we're being honest with Him and our feelings.

But let's consider this further. Getting angry with God and turning our backs on Him is hardly going to work in the long run is it? He is hardly going to be frightened into submission and give us what we pray for. All that throwing our toys out of the pram will achieve is make the devil laugh in anticipation.

Let's ask the question: What kind of business is God in?

He is hardly in the business of losing His followers; His customers or clients if we consider the scenario of the shopkeeper.

God sometimes does not respond to our prayers quickly enough or as we wished because He knows our circumstances better than we know them ourselves. And sometimes what we ask for is not right for us, or those around us, or those for whom we are praying right now.

In His own time, and in His own way, He will respond according to His will.

Our best action when things go wrong in our lives is to continue to pray and to praise Him. Yes, praise Him. Through gritted teeth even.

We are not praising God because things have gone wrong, but because He is still in control and in charge of what is happening. We acknowledge His supreme will above ours.

By praising Him we somehow help open a channel with our Creator to come to our aid.

And the harder we pray, however difficult it is, the more our Faith grows and is strengthened. Because it proves we believe there's Someone out there listening. 


“Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out”. 1 Corinthians 10:13.