November 13, How is Your Faith?
How is your faith? I am sure for most people this is an unexpected question, for we rarely consider the health of our faith. But let’s go there for a moment: “how is your faith?” Are you fully trusting in God despite the circumstances? Or is there that small fragment of your human logic still surviving that limits your faith to what you see and what you know?
Pastor Jim Cymbala observes,
“I have learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ.” (Jim Cymbala, Fresh Faith)
Today, look at the health of your faith. Consider the level of dependency upon God that you practice. I do not speak of the faith you only read about in the Scriptures, nor do I reference some framework of faith you ideally strive for with shallow claims of trusting God. I am speaking about your faith. I am asking at this moment, “how much do you actually depend upon God?” Can your life be described as one who is “bent over and leaning most heavily upon the Lord”? I certainly hope so. But if not, consider the following reminders to fully depend upon the Lord.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). The meaning of trust indicates a confidence that is bold and absolute. We must intentionally align our confidence with God’s nature. He is faithful, sovereign, and His timing is perfect. The reference to “our understanding” indicates our inability to understand what God is up to in the details of our lives. He holds the big picture and all the details in the picture. Therefore, Proverbs 3:6 states, "in all your specific ways trust Him and He will make your paths straight." We must trust Him regardless of what we know or do not know, or simply cannot understand. We must desperately depend upon Him with all our heart (with the deepest resolve in our mind and will). This expresses a strong trust in God over the details of life.
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12). Paul enjoyed a life of confidence in God, and the absolute certainty that God would care for that which Paul had entrusted to Him – namely, His very soul and life. Paul pointed to God's protection and provision that was present in and all around his life. This expresses a certainty of God’s faithfulness by which we should live.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time (Psalm 145:15). Charles Spurgeon observed from this Psalm, “As children look to a father for all they need, so do the creatures look to God, the all sufficient Provider; It is well if all men had the eye of faith, and if all waited therewith upon the Lord.” The imagery of eyes that look to God for sustenance (food at the proper time) describes the relationship that guarantees God’s faithful provision as Father over those who trust Him. This expresses the constant presence of the Father which causes the child to trust Him readily and at first. This expression of faith refuses to depend upon one’s own ability while leaving God for a secondary response.
So, do you need a fresh perspective of faith? Faith is trusting God for the details of your life. Faith is living with certainty in God’s faithfulness. And faith is trusting God readily as a Father who provides.
E. M. Bounds reminds us,
"Faith does the impossible because it lets God undertake for us, and nothing is impossible for God... Prayer throws faith on God and God on the world. Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God’s."
So today, resolve to trust God relentlessly. If your faith is in Jesus Christ, you can call God Abba, for He is your Father indeed. Live bent over and leaning most heavily upon the Lord.
Let's conclude with the same question we began with: how is your faith?
Blessings.
