Have Faith. In God.

Faith 14

          God gives every person some faith. (Romans 12.3) There is not an entirely cynical person on the planet. There are people who have become cynical in certain areas, but everybody trusts somebody or something in some way. It is part and parcel of how we are made, of how God created us. We are each of us born with the capacity to believe.

          Though God gifts us with this capacity, what He does not do is forcibly direct that faith. The capacity to believe is present in all of us. We get to choose where we place it.

Imagine for a moment that there are five people present, each possessing an apple. In front of those five people, I place a number of baskets. I then invite each person to place their apple in the basket of their choice. Walking slowly up and down the line of baskets, the first individual chooses the basket that looks the best to them. It may be because they like the way that basket looks. It may be because others have told them that is the best basket. It may be that his experience tells him this is a better basket. It may be that there are lots of other apples in that basket, or none at all. But he picks a basket for what seems to him a good reason.

This is precisely what the average person of your acquaintance does with their God-given capacity to believe. They place it in one or more of a number of different baskets. Some, for instance, place their faith in themselves. They back themselves. They bet on themselves. In their own mind, they are the smartest, the strongest, the best, the greatest. They believe in themselves. Others place their faith in the government. Given enough power and money, the government will eliminate crime, solve immigration issues, fix the income inequality gap, and provide healthcare to all. Often this type of individual is highly invested in whichever politician is campaigning for office next. Still other people place their faith in money. They reach for it, grasping it, acquiring it with might and main. After all, it is called the Almighty Dollar for a reason. If I can just get enough of it everything will be all right. Some choose to place their faith in the media, believing this trusted source or that one, molding their actions and reactions in life around what some influencer or journalist or broadcaster says or writes. Numerous other examples could be furnished.

What is the problem with this scenario? Not its accuracy, for ‘tis highly accurate. This is exactly what people do. The problem is in the baskets they choose. You can back yourself, but you will soon find you are dumber, weaker, and more fallible than you think. Government has a God-ordained role, without question, but it is not as a basket for faith. The only people who have ever been let down by government are all the people who have ever lived under one. Money? Ha! It gets lost, stolen, inflated away, not to mention what it purchases is only temporary at best. The media? Both the accepted wisdom and the countercultural wisdom of the day are often wrong. Science? The military? Name it and it has been proven to be a perpetual failure in some way.

The average person of an experienced age has come to admit this. The next problem is that they often simply choose a different basket. My employer let me down so now I will trust the government. My health failed me so now I will trust science and medicine. I am just taking my apple from one bad basket to a different yet equally flawed basket. Nothing ultimately gets better this way.

What am I supposed to do then? Let us turn to Jesus for the answer, shall we? Walking into Jerusalem during the Passion week, He cursed a fig tree. For the context and the meaning of it, you can see this blog post here from my series on the life of Christ. My point today is Jesus’ reaction to the Apostles shock at finding it withered the very next day. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God (Mark 11.22). The wise man places faith in God.

This is not blind faith. It is not walking up to the basket labeled “God”, closing our eyes, and dropping our apple into it. It is a conscious decision, understanding Who and what God is. It is the application of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. God is simply the best basket. He is the best receptacle for faith.

Why? Well, He is eternal. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33.27). That means He sees the end from the beginning. That means He is already in the future. That means His guidance of and preparation in my life will be done with perfect knowledge.

God is all-powerful. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28.18). That’s substantially more power than the amount of power available to any other basket, is it not?

God is all-knowing. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4.13). I do not know about you, but I would prefer to trust Someone who is never surprised about anything or anyone. Nor ever will be.

God has never tried and failed. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55.11). There is nothing God has ever decided to do that was beyond Him.

God binds Himself to His own Word. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23.19). See if any other basket can make the same claim with a straight face. Go ahead. I dare you.

Why have I chosen to extend my writing on faith? Because in the situation in which we find ourselves, the calls for us to trust in the wrong thing are clamoring, frantic, panicked, and wrong. I do not want to let the media or society or medicine or history or my own feelings drive my life. I want to live a God-driven life. I want to close the eyes and ears of my life, and in the stillness of my heart hear His still small voice. And I want to place everything in that basket.

Join me. Together, let us place our faith in the only basket that really makes any sense. Let us have faith in God.