08/25/2019
How do we engage our faith? Is it limited to our intellect, and discernment alone? If this is the case then we are missing much of the joy that comes with knowing God, and worshipping Him. If this is true then we miss knowing Jesus in His fullness. Although using our mind is important in understanding our faith, it is only one of the tools we were created with as God provided us with the ability to experience Him.
“....With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
The Song of Solomon 2:3 ESV
Such things as knowledge, understanding, and discernment are very important, and they lean heavily on the use of our mind, but there is so much more to our faith, and it comes to us by using our entire being to engage God. More people think themselves out of believing by limiting their relationship to thought alone... it is logical to seek out those things we can quantify and lean heavily on them, but that is not faith; it is placing ourselves before God by believing that we can define Him, or determine for ourselves who He should be... not He us.
“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:19 ESV
We first use reasoning so that we determine our baby step in faith which is that God exists, and following that we should want to know Him completely, by using all of our bring... emotions, seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, touching, and even the senses we don’t fully understand like the ones we refer to as our sixth sense.
When Ann and I met I had to determine mentally if I wanted to seek a relationship with her, and I did this through the mental process of determining if we were compatible, but there was something mysterious occurring at the same time which was drawing me to her, and it wasn’t reason, emotion, or my senses. As it turns out it was the Holy Spirit that was directing me. Some people call this “Love at first sight”, but it really isn’t love because we can’t really love what we don’t know. Later in life I could see the threads that God wove in my life that all began when I first met her... it was the Holy Spirit at work.
Poets strive to define mysteries like this by using words in such a way as to cause our senses and emotions to rise to the occasion, and William Cowper was one such poet who wrote these famous words in the late 1700s...
God moves in Mysterious Way
By William Cowper
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
You see, There is far more to our belief in God than mentally determining its boundaries, and saying they are all there is to Him. There is more, much more, to God than we are able to reason, and we are given many tools to use as we come to understand Him... these tools are the essence of how we employ our faith...
“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."”
Romans 1:17 ESV
After Ann and I met, and I determined that we were indeed compatible, that I knew who she was, and that a relationship was worth pursuing, my emotions and senses became fully engaged. I could recognize her in a crowd by simply seeing how she moved, and witnessing her mannerisms. I could tell you it was her with my eyes closed by the smell of her hair, or her hand. When I touched her skin it pleased me, and I could hear her humming to herself and know she was approaching by this alone. All of my senses were engaged, and were bringing my emotions alive; turning all these into a deep and abiding love... the kind that would break your heart if you ever lost it. Our faith is just like this; we reason that God exists, is worthy, and then we begin to know Him in ways that we don’t fully understand... the senses, emotions, and the sixth senses which all comprise our faith, and make the things we can’t see visible to us.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV
I knew that I loved this woman before I could understand it. The intangible became real to me through my my every sense and emotion, and mysteriously became love. Our love for God becomes real to us by experiencing faith (that which is unseen) as well. We see God in mountain heights and flowers, we smell Him in the aroma of the cedars, we taste Him in the salty sea spray, and we hear Him in the gentle sound of a sleeping baby as it breathes. Tears come to our eyes as we are overcome by emotion, and love erupts from all of this into something so real that it can never be denied, so intense it can cause us pain, and even leave us broken if lost. We come to understand that we can’t live without it, or ever hope to replace it. We know all of this, and it is a commandment to us...
“And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38 ESV
So we know God by sight:
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
Isaiah 45:22 KJV
We hear Him:
“Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”
Isaiah 55:3 ESV
We smell Him:
“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”
Psalms 45:8 KJV
We touch Him:
“And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well." Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.”
Matthew 9:20-22 ESV
We taste Him:
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”
Psalms 119:103-104 ESV
And in these senses we come to know Him more completely, to consume Him, and in each of them we come to love Him more...
“So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:53-54 ESV
So in seeking God, and knowing Jesus Christ, you should use all of your being, and not limit yourself to reason and intellect alone. You were made to experience God, and Jesus, by understanding them in fullness by utilizing every part of yourself... heart, soul, mind, and strength... are you ready to make this step into faith, and come to know what was once unseen as being real?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my intellect, and my ability to reason that you exist, but thank you more for the intimate ways I am able to know you. Thank you for every sense, every emotion, and for your Holy Spirit that is often calls our sixth sense. Our entire being is aligned with you Lord, and every part of us thrills as it shouts your name, and of your existence. Our faith becomes real to us even though you remain unseen, and our hope is always in seeing you when our Lord Jesus comes to bring us into your presence. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who leads us to yourself in every way. Great are you by the means in which you reveal yourself to us, and show us the intricate nature of who you are. In our faith alone there is only the unseen, yet you bring us to the verge of sight by revealing yourself within us by the tools of your creation that have been made such a part of us. All glory is hours Heavenly Father, by your love, and by the grace you show us. Your mercy provides us a path to your presence, and your grace through Jesus Christ our salvation.
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”
Colossians 2:9-13 ESV
Rich Forbes