Lessons On Faith

Faith is one of the most present themes in the Bible. Noah had faith when he believed God about the coming flood (Genesis 6), Abraham offered up his son Isaac by faith (Hebrews 11:17), Joseph showed faith when he told his brothers that what they had meant for evil God had used for good (Genesis 50:20). These stories are all found in Genesis and there are many more before you reach the Revelation!

Even though faith is found on practically every page of Scripture, it can oftentimes feel like a vague concept--like a mere idea instead of an actual attainable goal. I found that although I knew I had faith, I couldn't really explain what faith is. Last year, I challenged myself to read from Genesis to Esther, no matter how long it took, and I had no idea God would use these ancient books to teach me so much about faith. These are the lessons I learned:

1. Faith is trusting God more than you trust yourself. Out of all the amazing stories in the historic books of the Bible (Gen-Est), the one that captivated me most was the story of Saul, found in 1 Samuel 9 and on. Saul was the first king of Israel and I was excited to see him doing well in the first few chapters of his story: he seemed humble in his new position, defended the people and drove off invaders. His good qualities quickly faded, though, and he very soon turned into a God-defying, conceited, jealous, power-hungry, violent man. I tried to understand how a young man who showed so much potential could turn into a mean old paranoid bitter man and saw that I am very similar to him. I didn't mind at all seeing a small similarity between Moses and me, but I hated to admit that I was even a little bit like Saul. Being reminded of myself in Saul's fits of anger (1 Samuel 18:10-11 - don't worry, I've never thrown a spear at anyone) really showed me that there is nothing in me that can save me. I can't trust myself to be good enough to please God because sooner or later my ugly side will show. I have an ugly side that only God can make beautiful. I am dirty with sin and only God can clean me. I have to trust that he will be the one to save me and that I can't save myself.

2. Faith is knowing that whatever God does is best. Esther is probably the book I've read the most and every time I've read it I have come away with more knowledge of God. This time around, God's power really stood out. Esther was a Jewish woman living in the capitol city of the empire that ruled over Israel at the time. Instead of returning to the land of her people, she had stayed in the land of her ancestors' captors. After what seemed like a set of random events, Esther was chosen queen just in time to stop a wicked plan to destroy all the Jews. The story shows a God who is powerful enough to arrange a mess of insignificant, hopeless, scary, out of control events into something great and magnificent. When God allows painful or confusing things to happen and we don't understand why, faith is knowing that he is in control and that whatever he allows is what will be best. Looking back at the events of my life, I know that even when I felt like everything was falling apart, God was working something good for me because he knew I would someday be his daughter. That gives me comfort as I face new challenges and new obstacles in life.

3. Faith is believing that God will do what he says he'll do. Todd Agnew said at a concert that the word "promise" is not found in the Hebrew Old Testament. I should have written the quote when it was fresh in my mind, but he said that the reason is that God doesn't need to promise because what he says just is. His words are true always, no matter what. In Exodus, the pharaoh that refuses to let the people of Israel go has a little trouble understanding this. From Exodus 7 to 13, Pharaoh is warned about calamities to come upon his kingdom if he doesn't release God's people. Over and over again he refuses to believe, even when its plainly clear that God is going to keep his word. Pharaoh doubts God's word before the first plague and before the last. Whether we believe what God says or not, his word is true and nothing can make it false. If I refuse to believe, my unbelief won's make God's word any less true. He says I have sinned against him and broken his laws (James 2:10). He teaches that sinners will receive his wrath (Romans 1:18) but that his Son died on a cross to save all who believe in him (John 3:16) and that if I turn away from sin and turn to him instead, I will be safe. I know it is true because God's word is true. Next week: What Faith Isn't.