“…All things are possible to him that believes"
-----Jesus (Mark 9:23)
Subtitle:"No Ishmaels please."
(You'll see what I mean in a minute.)
I want to say a further word about faith or belief. I pointed out, in Chapter 3, that to believe in Jesus is to put the full weight of our trust and confidence in Him. There I was speaking about our eternal salvation and the fact that we can contribute nothing toward it—we can’t think that we can help to bring it about by our own “good works”, since Paul points out in Romans 3:10 that there is none good, and Isaiah says in 64:6 that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. We are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8) and we walk by faith (Colossians 2:6). Just as we cannot contribute to our own eternal salvation, we also cannot effectively contribute to our own sanctification (Galatians 3:3) or even our daily living. Jesus asked the question in Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?”
However, events in my own life have driven home just how easy it is to lose sight of what we believe. Just like Abraham of old, we often try to bring about results through our own efforts, instead of waiting on God.
For those of you not familiar with the narrative found in the book of Genesis, I will summarize it momentarily. But first, if you will allow me another connection to my novel, Of Such Is The Kingdom, Deborah, Barabbas‘ wife had great faith in the LORD, JHWH, and it‘s too bad Barabbas couldn‘t see fit to follow her example, but following the prompting of the stranger, decided to take matters into his own hands. When she tells him all we can do about the high taxation is to pray, he tells her, ”Sometimes y‘ have to put feet t‘ your prayers.”1 —just like Abraham of old.
So back to Abraham. For those not familiar with the Genesis record, Abraham had been given the promise by God of having a son in his old age. God, in fact, made a covenant with Abraham, sealing the promise in the blood of sacrificial animals. Typologically, this looks forward, for those of us who are new testament believers, to the blood of Christ through which we are made partakers of God‘s eternal covenant. But back to Abraham. Certainly, after such a dynamic demonstration (Genesis 15) of God‘s covenant promise, we would think that Abraham would have no doubt that God would fulfill his part of the agreement. But, instead of waiting patiently on God as he should have done, he listened to his wife, Sarah, and tried to help God out, by having a son with his handmaiden (as was the custom of the day), since his wife, Sarah was barren. He did have a son with his handmaiden, but that was a cause of much sorrow to him and is the cause of much conflict even today. For, you see, this son, Ishmael, is the father of Arab nations. Oh, God was still with Ishmael and provided water to keep him alive after Sarah had thrown out the handmaiden and her son. But Ishmael was not God's first choice for Abraham. Thus, later, God did fulfill his promise and give Abraham a son through his wife, Sarah. That son, Isaac, is the father of the Jewish people. We are all aware of the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues till today. Yet, God was gracious, and Abraham is remembered today as the father of the faithful. In the hall of faith, Hebrews 11, his faith is cited, and there is no mention of his lack of it in that one moment of weakness. (Thus, I don't feel that I should share the particulars of my own Ishmael experience with you, as I know God has put it in the sea of forgetfulness.)
Often, we may be tempted to do what Abraham did and take matters into our own hands, instead of trusting God explicitly. But this can only result in the production of an Ishmael, which, although God may still bless, will mean trouble for us and cause us to deviate for a time from our primary God-given goals and purpose. However, when that happens, we may be assured of God‘s grace in getting us back on track. May God ever keep us from producing Ishmaels. But if we do, may we run to Him for his mercy and grace and know that He is still in control and we will not be remembered by him for our Ishmaels, but for our Isaacs--the fruit of our faith.
I would like to include here a quote of which the author is unknown. I did use this quote in my ezine, and I see it sometimes on the wall of the clinic to which I go. I used to have it taped in front of me on my desk, but my wife, in cleaning up must have taken it down and I forgot about it. It takes faith to follow this "quote." The comments at the end are not mine, but those of the original publisher. Here it is:
I am God:
Today I will be handling all your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it.
Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box.
All your situations will be resolved,
But in my time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed in the box,
Do not hold onto it by worrying about it.
Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
I have found time and again, that when I surrender the worry to God, I not only feel a huge weight lifted, but the solutions of the problems seem to effortlessly flow toward me. Let go and have solid faith in God.
Of course, the proper exercise of faith should have its outworking in our everyday lives. So, hopefully, we will all have benefited from this chapter. If you feel you have no faith, perhaps this will be a first step for you. If you feel you need more faith or need to use your faith more, perhaps this can also be a starting point for you in that direction.
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QUOTABLE QUOTES
1) "For by grace are we saved, through faith… "
---Paul (Ephesians 2:8)
2) "Believe you can; believe you can't; you're right either way."
---Zig Zigler
3) "All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs."
---Anthony Robbins
5) "Change your thoughts and you change your destiny."
---unknown
6) “Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first you have to believe."
---Mark Victor Hansen
7) "Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not too."
---George Seaton
8) "I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack... Yet at the 101st blow, it will split. ..It was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
---Jacob Riis -
9) "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes"
---Jesus (Mark 9:23)
10) “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on
the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
---David (Psalm 27:13-14)
11) ”And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes,will he find faith on the earth?”
---Jesus (Luke 18:7-8)
10) “Blessed is the man who trusts God, like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”
---Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:8)
11) "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
---Paul (Hebrews 11:1)
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1 Of Such Is The Kingdom, p.62