08/29/2023
How strong is our belief in Christ? Have we grown in faith to the place where those things that are not seen cast shadows before us? Is heaven as real as the home we return to each night? When Jesus holds our hand can we feel the warmth of His blood coursing through it?
Following the death of Moses, God spoke wonderful words to Joshua as He gave him His anointing. He gave him encouragement and directed him, but not once did He feel inclined to command that his faith be strengthened, nor did He ask Joshua to trust in Him more... because He already did. God didn't say who He was because Joshua already knew His voice. Listen as God speaks...
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."”
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Jesus spoke words of encouragement as well. It is interesting that He also told His disciples to be brave. He encouraged their belief, but like God did with Joshua He did not tell them to increase it, nor to grow their trust in who He was. Listen as He speaks to them...
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27 ESV
There is faith and it is in the things which are unseen; like those things in which we believe "just because", out of our wishful thinking, or because our reasoning tells us they must exist; and there are also those things that we come to believe because our heart leads us by faith to do so. The apostle Paul tells us such in Hebrews when he says...
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
But what happens when the thing we have faith in becomes real? What happens when Jesus is standing before us and, like Thomas, we put our fingers in the wound in His side? Something amazing happens at that moment... our faith becomes belief, and our hope becomes trust.
When I was in the sixth grade we were learning long division, and it was a complete mystery to me. Each day I would go to the chalkboard and the teacher would give me a problem to work, and each day I was befuddled and she would come walk me through the solution. I had trust in her, but very little faith in myself. Then one day something amazing happened, I walked to the board, picked up the chalk, and as I stared at the problem she had written, a light came on in my head and the solution became perfectly clear to me. My chalk made the quick loud tapping sound on the board of someone who was confident that they knew the solution... someone who trusted in their ability. On that day my faith had become trust; it became real to me and I believed I could do it.
Have you experienced that kind of moment with God; or with Jesus? Has your faith strengthened itself through the many lessons of life until at last you have met God face to face, or realized that the person you have been walking with was actually Jesus; like the two apostles did as they traveled to Emmaus? If this has happened then God and Jesus are no longer objects of faith to you, but have become real, and now you believe in them, and have trust.
Faith is still required of us, even in those things and people we trust; let me give you an example. I knew that my mother loved me and wanted only the best for me, but one afternoon she said to me "choose your friends wisely", and it required faith for me to believe she was right and to obey her. She was talking to me about the rough necked boy down the street that seemed so cool to me, and who was a big man in school. He had asked me to come out and play with him, and I really wanted to be seen as his friend. I struggled with my mother's advice, but in the end my faith in her wisdom won out and my desire to be seen with him waned. A few years later he was arrested and convicted of a felony... he wasn't so cool anymore. Had I lost faith in my mother's advice and guidance I might have been with him in prison. I knew my mother was wise, but sometimes the circumstances require us to bolster that belief further with our faith.
At some point in our walk of faith we will meet God and His Son Jesus, and in that moment our great hope and faith in them, that will have been building over days, months, or years, will become belief and trust to us. The person who we have been praying to, speaking to as we walked the path of faith, and that we had hoped in, will suddenly cast a very real shadow before us. Jesus will became real to us, and we will see him in everything we have done, and will ever do. God's voice will have transitioned from that indescribable one that we heard in our minds to something we can hear with our ears. How do we hear God? How do we believe? Is it by faith alone?
We all set off on a journey as men and women of faith. We have faith the size of a mustard seed imbedded within us, but somewhere along the way, as our seed grows and grows, we meet the man who comes to tend it, and hear the voice of our Father who created it. This might happen today, or it might not occur until the moment when we are called up at resurrection, but it will most certainly happen. Belief might come because we have seen, heard, and touched God, or because our hearts have led us there through our faith. Some of us are destined for trust, while others among us will have lived lives of faith. Jesus acknowledged these two in His words to Thomas; He tells us something wonderful about our faith in Him, and the belief that follows.
“Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."”
John 20:29 ESV
So whether we have seen and now trust, or have not seen and believe totally by faith, there is a blessing in our belief. Much like I received from my mother in whom I trusted and had faith. Those of us who have heard or seen God and Jesus will still be required to have faith in them. We all must have faith in Their Word and Commandments. As for those of us who believe through the strength of our faith alone, we will be blessed, but we must continue to believe while maintaining our faith in God’s Word and Commandments as well. This we must do without the benefit of having seen or audibly heard Jesus who relieves our doubt by placing trust in its place. Through these difficult acts of believing, and faith, we will either receive the blessing that Jesus spoke of to Thomas, or the blessing He spoke of to those who believed without seeing. Rest assured however that there is a day coming when all of us will see Jesus. It may be in this life, or the promised life to come when He leads us before the throne of judgement; but it will most certainly come and we will all see, and believe as one.
Is your faith strong enough to allow you to believe without seeing His shadow leading you on, or has He revealed Himself to you and made that shadow real to you by sight? Either way, His purpose for where you are at... be it trust, or hope… should not concern you too much because He leads us on in both. Perhaps He tells us to increase our faith in Him, or maybe like Joshua that particular grain of faith has already blossomed and become our trust, but either way, and by whichever shadow He casts Himself over our lives, our belief and faith will bless us in Him.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for revealing yourself to some while requiring others to have faith alone in you throughout their lives. I thank you for the hope we have in one day seeing you face to face and the very real examples you give us in the lives of others. I thank you Lord for the many who believe without seeing, for you said they are blessed, and I thank you for those who believe by sight and touch. I also thank you for those whose faith has led them to believe, but who have now seen and touched you as well. Father, Lead us along whichever path that you have chosen for us, and that allows us to confidently face you in judgement with Jesus by our side. Until that day Father, give us the faith and belief we need to continue our walk towards righteousness and holiness; let each of us see your light, and our shadow going before us until we all witness the dust rising from the feet of Jesus, and hear your voice announcing our arrival in great jubilation.
Rich Forbes