In THIS (fill-in-the-blank) situation, what does FAITH look like? How do I go about activating it?
When God called Abraham to leave his family and go, he didn't know where he was going either and I keep reminding myself that I don't have to live in a tent in a desert. (!!) I don't really know if Canaan is a desert, but that is what I picture in my mind from photos I have seen of Israel. I probably should do some research on that. After all, it was the Promised Land. A land "flowing with milk and honey"...I wonder why I think of it as a desert?
I wonder too if that is the problem with we-the-people and faith. We believe wrong things about God and His promised provision. We doubt He is good when life hurts? We have pictures in our mind of what things "should look like" in a given situation and when it isn't like that we get shook up and fearful.
When Israel was facing one of their faith-failures for forty days for fear of a 9' man-beast, I can't say I blame them for seeming so wimpy. I do that. Though I have never faced a Goliath, I have faced other such large obstacles that threatened to topple me.
Like mountains of medical debt after the birth and surgery of our son, mounting bills, little income, loss of job...One year our SS statement shows we made somewhere around $10,000.00. We look at that statement, and ask "HOW? How did we manage that year???" I remember friends bringing me groceries, Dale's parents
There is only one answer to the 'HOW?' question. We were the blessed recipients of grace. Grace is unmerited favor. Blessings for the unworthy. That was us. If there was a fiscal responsibility class, we would have failed. We had no power to sustain ourselves or make any more money. The Lord knows how hard we tried, all the routes our minds and our creativity took us. Dale always said, "We have more month than money!" He was right. But we made it. We prayed a LOT and had others praying with us. In our fear, we activated faith by prayer and remembering the works of God.
~And this I call to mind (remember) in the times of the vast unknown: The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. Psalm 145:13 (and the entire psalm really!)
And grace. Beautiful. Wonderful. Grace.
From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16
Have you noticed that giants are the things that threaten to take us down on our way to the places of promise?
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