Faith Can Be Frustrating

Something I struggle with is the difference between “stepping out in faith” and “acting in faith”. From studying scripture I think that both occur, but it’s just that… well… I see God giving such excellent instruction to those who have gone before us… those who are the great cloud of witnesses to faith.

I see how God instructed Gideon… and Gideon believed God’s Word and acted in faith. I see how God told Joshua to have the priests step into the Jordan and they acted in faith based on what God had said (they didn’t just step out blindly). I see how the kings, when they inquired of God were instructed as to what they should do.¬†

A striking and humbling story to me is that of Asa. It really shakes me actually. I see how he sought the Lord and turned Judah to seek the Lord and how he relied on the Lord for deliverance from the great Ethiopian army. But then. Yes, then he did not rely on God when Israel came against Judah.. instead he relied on Syria and God sent a prophet to rebuke him. Asa was angry and threw the prophet in prison. Then, just as striking to me, the scripture says that Asa became diseased in his feet, yet he did not seek the Lord but the physicians. II Chronicles 16:7-14 (or for his whole life chapters 14,15,16)

Do you see it. How the scripture rebukes him for not inquiring from the Lord but instead the doctors first. So sure we can go on to look at who we turn to first and where our trust is… but look at faith in action and it is based in what God tells us after we seek Him and trust Him.¬†

I am afraid too many times I lean on what I think or what society tells me or what is “feasible” instead of what God is telling me. I want to act in faith based on what He tells me. So like Philip, when an angel of the Lord told him to go down to Gaza… and in faith he went. Then the Spirit of the Lord told him to overtake the chariot… and in faith he did and preached Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch.

Oh that the Lord would give me ears to hear so that I may hear, trust, and obey