Faith is explained in the first part of Hebrews 11 as “Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…” and in verse 6 we read…”And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” There is a great message in this passage. And that message is that “faith” and “life” goes hand-in-hand.
Dr. Robert Schuller tells of a potato farmer in Idaho. Before they are shipped potatoes are harvested and divided according to size -- big, medium, and small. This makes the most money
“This is the method that all Idaho potato farmers use -- all but one. One farmer never bothered to sort the potatoes at all. Yet he seemed to be making the most money. A puzzled neighbor finally asked him, "What is your secret?" He said, "It’s simple. I just load up the wagon with potatoes and take the roughest road to town. During the eight-mile trip, the little potatoes always fall to the bottom. The medium potatoes land in the middle, while the big potatoes rise to the top."
-- Robert Schuller, Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do
WAITING ON GOD SEPARATES US
That’s not only true of potatoes. It is a law of life. Big potatoes rise to the top on rough roads the same way that faithful people rise to the top in rough times. I mention this because during Eastertide (the time between Easter and Pentecost) we discover what it means to “wait” on the Lord. We wait for the reality of the resurrection to take hold of us. We wait as the disciples did, for the Holy Spirit and power to come on us. We wait for the transformation that happens in us and with us.
To wait for God takes faith. Now that may sound like a no-brainer but there’s more to this than we may think. Ernie Lewis, a Presbyterian pastor, spoke at a camp in Kansas and one thing he said stuck in my mind. He said, "To say Jesus Christ died on a cross is history; to say he died for sins is theology; to say he died for my sins is faith." Faith does not happen just because we believe that there is a God or even that Jesus is the Son of God. Faith does not happen just because we are raised in a Christian home. Faith bursts forth into life when our lives are open to Jesus and where Christ has become very personal friend and companion.
The disciples new this. Their firsthand experience with Christ shaped them in ways they could have never imagined. They were transformed after their time of waiting. Listen to how John begins his letters to the churches
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1)
Abraham also discovered that waiting on God goes easier when one has faith in the one who they are waiting on. Like those disciples, Abraham trusts (has faith in) a God whom he knows first-hand. He’d been through enough to know when God called. He’d experienced God in the past and seen how God had dealt with him throughout the years. And the highlight of God’s provision was the birth of Isaac to Elizabeth and him. Abraham knows God’s provision is certain. So that he calls God Jehovah Jireh, which translates “God will provide”. Not only does he tell Isaac this as they travel to the mountain but he names the place of sacrifice Jehovah Jireh.
Abraham believed that God would provide if we he waited on Him. One commentary explained this test by saying, “The real test here is not whether Abraham had the faith to believe God would spare the child. That was never at issue in the story. The test was whether Abraham could trust God enough to give up the promise and start again from the same place he had started 35 or more years earlier (v. 12). The test was whether Abraham had really made this journey of faith to a point where he could trust God and not just what he could see and hold in his hands.”
Did you hear that? The test was “whether he could trust God and not just what he could see and hold in his hand”
FAITH AS A CATALYST
What allowed Abraham to pass this test was that he understood his trust in God’s provision, his faith, was a catalyst for growth. A catalyst causes a reaction among elements which otherwise won’t react at all. For example water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. Combine these two elements together and you don’t get water. They don’t interact at all. As I understand it if you add a small amount of platinum to these two things happen very rapidly. The hydrogen and oxygen unite and a chemical change occurs which produces H2O.
The catalytic experience of faith that Abraham, the disciples and others experience causes one’s “life situation” and the “Creator of the universe” to interact in such a way as to produce a “spiritual journey” and growth. We each know people who have kept their religious life separated from the rest of their life. They don’t let Sunday mornings interfere with how they do their work on Monday or how they treat their children on Wednesday. These are the type of people who are living life without the catalytic impact of faith in Christ.
When a personal trust in Jesus is introduced into such arenas something marvelous happens—we begin walking with Jesus. We see the changes in our life that only Jesus could bring. And we truly start on a “spiritual journey” with Christ as the Lord of our life.
PRACTICAL FIRST STEPS
I know some of you are probably tired of everything that life has handed you. Some have too many things going on. Others seem to have fallen into a rut where they are comfortable but not really enjoying it. There are some I’m sure who know deep in their hearts that their Christian life can be better defined as “church” life with very little experience of Christ. As we travel down the roads of life in which we’re bounced and sorted like so many potatoes we sometimes just need a reminder of God’s leading.
A first step is to determine to what level you know Jesus. To go back to Rev. Lewis’ comment is Jesus a matter of history, theology or faith for us. Do us believe he lived and died and maybe even rose from the dead? Do us believe that the reason he died was for the sins of people? Those are the history and theological camps. Or do us know that the nails held him to the horror of the cross for our own lusts, lies, anger, greed, hatred, bigotry, disrespect, murder and the like. It’s at this point of “faith” where the cross and empty tomb become extremely personal and life-changing.
We can only have this type of faith in someone we know personally like Abraham and the Apostle John. John White in a commentary on Nehemiah describes how the prayers of Nehemiah showed he knew the God of the universe. He concludes on paragraph by writing, “You can only have faith in someone to the degree that you know them.”
White, John. Excellence in Leadership. p. 20
The question to ask is do we need a savior? Because as long as we think we can handle everything we’ll never really believe in Jesus. As long as we think we’re “good enough” we’ll never believe in Jesus. One of the great mysteries of creation is how God respects our freedom to not believe. And although it pains Him, He allows us to live out the consequences of our freedom.
A next step is whether our experience with Christ has become such a force in our life that we are convinced Christ is worth giving up everything for. If Jesus told us to give up our job, our retirement plans, our savings, our homes, friends and to follow Him somewhere we didn’t know would we? What are the things that we wouldn’t give up? Those are the same things that hold us back from experiencing Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides.
To grow in our ability to wait on God with an attitude of faith I’d like you to start by looking at your past. Where God has been faithful to you in the past by supplying your needs? I want to change metaphors a moment and jump to that of a building. The foundation stones are these past experiences that we’ve forgotten or downplayed. Some of this is the work of Satan who likes nothing better than keeping us feeling lost. Sometimes we dismiss them as coincidental, silly, or no big deal. Don’t to that because they lose their power to prepare us to experience God’s provision in bigger and better ways. They are the stones on which our faith is built up. Remember those times in the past and write them down. One way is to use a “time-line” of your spiritual life on which you mark down significant events in your spiritual life.
As you’re doing this ask God to demonstrate His faithfulness to you. Don’t be surprised if your road becomes rougher all of sudden after you pray this. Because God’s going to give us opportunities to let Him provide. God will challenge us in those areas we keep out of His control. And as He does and we let go we’re going to discover that it is easier to trust and wait for God.
In The Peter Principle, Stan Toler writes: "I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what I had been laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, "Honey, I wasn’t raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let’s do it." So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservations village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage.
The next day I went to the post office, and amazed I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read. ’ I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I’m enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you." Fifty bucks!
When the check we sent arrived ...Carter called immediately, "Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill....the Lord was right on schedule, wasn’t he?"
How could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, "Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona," even though he knew the church planter needed it, and at the same time touch a student at Asbury Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, "Send $50 to the Toler’s"? A cynical person might ask, "Why didn’t God just impress the Asbury student to send his $50 directly to the missionaries in Arizona?" To the first question I say, that’s how God works. To the second I suggest that God wanted to pour out his blessings on three families instead of two.”
I believe that God’s got some great things in store for us as we learn to wait for Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. I imagine that our stories of God’s graces will be powerful witnesses not only for each other for our community as well because “that’s how God works.”
o Reflect and journal God’s past provision.
o Pray for God to provide for you in new ways
o Get ready to reap the blessing of growth in Christ.
