The trees in our backyard dress themselves in flower of purest white. Dancing on the breeze just long enough to dazzle you with their splendor and flurry to the ground like snow. They blew happily everywhere, springtime snow chasing little children with eyes big enough to see Gods world as it really is wondrous. Spring paints the earth in its pinks and purples and paints my heart with praise of Creator. All of life is clear expressions of grace wholly unmerited.
The Creator who made all is worthy of trust, but from the garden to the inner walls of our home we all battle against the plague, the sin, the temptation of unbelief. Isn’t that what got Adam and Eve in trouble in the first place? But etched in Scripture there are examples of men and women who lived by faith. Who by faith did impossible things, accomplished impossible feats, and pleased their God. I look at the circumstances of my life which are abundantly good by comparison to all the saints of old and I see my weak faith, me,barely believing this God I believe can do all things.
How I ask that He would reach down into my soul and change me, change us. I think I my faith is ok until my kid gets sick a few times and I realize when pressed my faith wilts like a flower drying out in the face of too much sun, like a spring puddle meeting the warmer days of April. And I suppose we’re all kind of like that particularly in the west where things are endlessly easy and difficulty comes only in short bouts which we do our best to extinguish as quickly as possible (smile). What would happen though if we started living by faith? If we actually did the thing that we think is quite impossible that our Lord just might be calling us to? What would happen if we began to show the treasure in jars of clay? Lived life to show that all of life is for God and not for ourselves? Perhaps our faith would chase the unbelieving…and show them our God.
When I read this verse, I was quickened and reminded….
And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he had trusted in His God. Daniel 8:21
Remember that story? Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel living as unto the Lord in a foreign land. Living like an exile, because he was an exile. We could learn from that. Praying believing to His God despite laws and rules to the contrary, despite edicts that would seek to take his life. And no wound was found on him after riding through the black of night in a pit with lions as companions, because He trusted God.
He trusted.
Do I trust? Do I really trust? Or do I…do you…fret, worry, panic, freak out, call a friend before we seek our Lord? The only One who can ever really change anything, save us, keep us, give us anything. We are weak in faith, but God is changing that. Strengthening us by the trials He sends our way. The ones that leave us feeling like we can barely breathe….the ones we’re trying desperately to get of and keep ourselves from. He is in it. He has brought it. And He intends it for our good.
…who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…. 1 Peter 1:5-7
Those two words…if necessary…what sweet comfort and relief they bring. The Lord is bringing us through…only through that which is necessary. There is something more precious than our comfort, more valuable than our pursuit of lives that virtually require no faith. Our faith, refined and purified, will result in the praise and glory and honor of our God. And for those who love Him, not with lip service, but in the depths of their person, this kind of faith is worth having and not worth trading. We wouldn’t want Him to do anything less than build us up in the most holy faith, allowing us to fellowship in truth with His Son, our Suffering Servant of whom this week (and every) most deserves our focus and meditation and trust. (Originally posted at www.smilesofgrace.org)
With love in Christ,
Regina Gibson