You Gotta Have Faith

 

                                                       You Gotta Have Faith

Some very well meaning people have said to me, “If you had enough faith then God would do what you’re asking.”  They are referring to verses like: Matthew 17:20 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” or Acts 14:9 “He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed.” 

I do believe that God can certainly heal, move mountains and anything that He wants.  What part do we play in all this?  What is this thing called ‘faith’?  Is it mindless belief or some magic mumbo jumbo that most of us know nothing about?  I have learned in the last couple of weeks a new perspective that may not be satisfactory to some but I believe it has merit.

In the midst of planning this trip to India I tore a scapula muscle in my back.  Was it playing ping pong with my left hand?  Who knows?  I certainly believed and had faith that God could heal it instantly.  I even followed the injunction of James 5:13-16 that we should have others pray over us for healing.  Tracy has prayed over me numerous times.  I have begged God to release me of the pain.  I began to grow in fear of sitting on an airplane for 14 hours and medicating myself in order not to feel the pain so intensely. 

And then I turned a corner.  If I had faith that God could heal me, did I also have faith that He could give me the endurance to handle the pain?  Perhaps there was more purpose to my pain than mere aggravation.  Of course that brought a tremendous amount of guilt upon my head as I realized how difficult I have been to live with over the past couple of weeks.  Pain doesn’t tend to bring out the best in me.

Isn’t this what faith is about?  It’s trusting in a good God who has a purpose for us and He can use anything and everything for His glory…even pain or cancer, and a myriad of other unpleasant things.  It’s the belief that He is in control and we are not.  It’s a calm acceptance that things will not always go the way I imagined but laid at the foot of the cross, they can be redeemed.

With that in mind Hebrews 11:1 begins to make sense, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” 

So, what will it be?  Will we continue to gripe and groan because things aren’t going our way and arrogantly assume we are in charge when they do?  Or can we imagine submitting it all to God and sitting back and watching what He’ll do…with our pain, our aggravations, even past histories and painful memories?  He’s a good God.  Take a chance on faith.  You won’t be disappointed.