A few more thoughts on faith

Hmmm, I keep getting more things on faith as it is biblically defined, so I will keep writing on it for at least one more entry, possibly more. Perhaps I am writing so much about this because Jettie and I are privileged to be in the "school of trust" right now! Okay, here goes some rambling thoughts.

Faith and fear. Because faith is something that grows as our relationship with the other person grows, it means that it grows only by "being needed." We learn that God is faithful when we see Him prove Himself faithful in our lives when we respond to our fears by turning to Him. This helps us to see that fear, in and of itself, is not bad nor an indication of "weak faith." Fear when it first arrives is simply an invitation to consider where my trust will be placed!

So it's what we do with fear once we realize its presence that will determine whether or not our trust will grow. David, writing during a truly frightening situation said, "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You." (Psalm 56:3 NKJV). Then, in the next verse he says, "In God I have put my trust; I will not fear."

So living in faith doesn’t mean that we are never afraid. It means that we know to whom to turn when we sense fear/anxiety coming. Yes, over time our trust can grow into a deeper and deeper trust that results in almost unshakeable peace, as I have previously written about, but because faith by its nature must grow, there will often be things that challenge our peace, no matter how deep it is. The difference is that with maturing faith, the fear will become an invitation to run to our Refuge and to re-surrender conrtol rather than the dominating factor in our life. (Is this making sense? I hope so!).

Also, since faith/trust grows only as it becomes necessary, it doesn’t come first or automatically. That’s why filling our minds with Scripture, although helpful, will not automatically build faith. No, faith becomes biblical faith (trust) only when it leads to a decision which leads to "action" (even if the action is to "stand still and wait for God). So even though the revelation of God’s character in His word, the testimonies of other people, the reminders of His work in our lives up to this point--all of these--help us make the decision, they aren’t the decision! By the way, on a related note, my experience is that the "decision" is most often a series of repeated decisions (whenever I am afraid, I will decide again...").

Now the good news here is that God never requires more trust than what is possible for us at the moment, but it will usually “feel” like it’s more than we have because that’s the nature of faith. The struggle we face at those times is one of surrender and release of control. It is at those times that His word and the record of His faithfulness in our life up to that point become helpful reminders that increase the volume of the Holy Spirit's invitation to collapse again into the River of God's sovereign, loving faithfulness.

Now why have I written so extensively about fear and faith? Because I know so many folks who beat themselves up for being afraid. (And sometimes other join in on the party and beat them up as well. Ironically, the only time anyone else "beats up on another" because of their "lack of faith" is because the one doing the beating is him/herself afraid!). But fear is a natural, expected first response to things. It's what we do with the fear that will determine how trust develops in our lives. "Whenever I am afraid, even if it's a hundred times a day, I will decide again to collapse in trusting surrender into Your loving arms!" Remember, dear ones, that God wants you trust Him for your own good, not because He has some kind of need to be trusted or need to control you. He wants you to enjoy the great level of easy trust that exists within the Godhead itself, a trust that is rich with infinite love and immeasurable peace. So beating up on yourself is neither helpful nor required! :-)

Hmmm, this is long enough. I guess next week I will write about the connection between "faith and hearing." Stay tuned...

Living in peace, learning to trust whenever I am afraid...

Tom, one of Abba's little boys