When Faith Meets Life

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” Romans 8:28

A friend of mine once asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get to the place spiritually where we didn’t have to fall back upon Romans 8:28 so much?” If I remember correctly my initial response was “absolutely”, but after I thought for a while I realized that was the wrong answer. I will probably always need to depend upon God to rescue me from my lack of faith or my lapses in judgment, understanding or obedience while I’m in this world. In reality, I can’t make it without His help and I am pretty sure you can’t either, to which I say, thank God.

I have met people along the road of my life who go up and down in their walk with God upon every circumstance that comes their way. When they are getting what they want they say, “God is good”. When things are going rough, “Why is God doing this to me?” I have been there myself on occasion and in hindsight, it’s a terrible place to be.

Truth is, if we knew the answers to all the hard questions it probably wouldn’t make much difference. It’s not the answers that we lack, it’s the confidence of knowing that God loves us no matter what is occurring in life or what challenge we are facing. Built into the fallen human experience is the reality of something called doubt and because deep down in our hearts we know that we have failed to meet up to the perfect requirements of a holy God the devil can sometimes get to us and attack us with accusations and fears that make us lose sight of God’s promises.

The good news is that we don’t need to feel unworthy because of our failure to meet God’s requirements. Jesus met them all for us on the cross. (Romans 5:1 and Eph.1: 6) Or in the words of the once popular praise song, “He paid a debt He did not owe; I owe a debt I could not pay”.

Having faith in times of trouble sounds easy on paper but it rarely is in reality when it comes down to it. How can it be easy? We are talking about totally trusting a God that we cannot see. We are called to believe in and put our total confidence in Someone whom we have heard is there based upon writings handed down from the past, stories of others that went before us or maybe a personal spiritual experience or answer to prayer that we or someone else may have had at one time or another. In all honesty most of us have not heard God from the burning bush like Moses did. And if we did some doctor would probably show up and give us a prescription for Xanax and tell us we were bi-polar or some such thing. That’s where faith comes in. I tried living without it before and it’s no fun.

Still, faith itself is not enough. Though many of the modern teachers and preachers have put together systems of mindset and behavior that are supposed to produce faith in us, usually the result of such practices is like a basketball that continuously needs to be pumped up in order to keep bouncing back. And so we are told to watch everything we think or say lest we fall short and shipwreck the whole effort. How fragile is this kind of faith?

What about the praying parents filled with a positive confession and faith whose dying child is lying helpless in the hospital bed bathed in prayer, faith and love, yet still they see their loving child slip away into God’s eternal hands? Or the believing man of God, who faithfully lives to love and serve those around him, yet loses his family in a tragic car accident? Where does one go having devoted the prime years of his or her life to working for a company that went belly up and left them with nothing but an unemployment check for their years of dedication?

What words can comfort someone who has walked with God for many years and loses a son or daughter to suicide or drug addition? How many have spent years in a church or ministry totally confident in the spirituality of the leadership there only to find out that the minister had been having immoral affairs or worse during all the years he had preached such powerful sermons?

No beloved, it is not our ability to have faith alone to which we must turn in troubled times, it is the Object our faith that we must trust. God himself! We must believe that no matter what is happening in our life and the lives of those we love and care for, our God will never fail to do what is best for us and for all those who love and trust in Him. It is often only in the crushing of the fruit that the sweet nectar can be released.

As it was for the Son of God himself, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone”. (John 12:24) Sometimes the things most precious to us must be placed in God’s hands by faith not knowing how He will use them or why He requires them.

Today, much of what was once thought of as secure and stable is being shattered into dust. Hard times are upon many if not most of us and it remains to be seen how we will fare through it all. Our status as a great nation is being ridiculed and assaulted by the very men and women who are supposed to defend and build it. Our financial institutions are failing from long abuses of incompetent and questionable practices, and most of our wealth and job-producing infrastructure is being sent overseas to avoid heavy taxation and labor costs. Our confidence in all of these institutions and in the future is on the verge of reaching critical mass; the shining potential of finding security in the things of this world has never been more in need of a change of batteries.

Paul also writes in Hebrews 2:10 , “For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Then we hear the words of Peter saying, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” (1 Pet. 4:1)

If God is allowing you to go through a time of testing it is to prove the work that has been done in you by the Holy Spirit. As metal in a blast furnace is heated to a high temperature to enable the dross to rise to the surface, so it is for the follower of Christ when it is time to form the metal of the spirit into a weapon of warfare.

How do you feel when you look at what is going on in the world today? Are you fearful? Are you concerned about the future? Are you in agreement with the doomsayers who see nothing but calamity, ruin and despair? Or do you in fact see the greatest opportunity of your lifetime to be effective for Christ. Do you believe that in Christ you possess the answers to the problems of the world around you? Well if you do feel that way . . . you are absolutely right!

To be honest I don’t know when Christ is coming back. There are signs that it could be soon and I believe it is very possible that we are in the final hours, but I’m not putting my chez lounge on the top of a hill to wait for the rapture. I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting to work. The fields are white unto harvest.

Do you recognize these things and have been praying that the Lord will “send forth labourers into his harvest”? (Matt. 9:38) Just remember this: after the Lord told his disciples to pray that prayer, the next morning He sent them. (Matt. 10:1)

You are that city set on a hill. You are the light of the world. You are the lamp that will not be hid under the bed when the darkness comes. Thank God that you have this promise that whatever comes against you can only eventually work for your good through the power of the eternal God whom you serve and the Spirit that works in you.

Have courage and set your eyes on the One who is seated in the heavens high and lifted up, for He has his eyes set upon you and called you His own.

Craig Marlatt