Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the substance, the real material which has a solid, tangible presence, of hope. Faith is why we can have hope, because without a tangible, real, reason to hope, it's not hope. It's delusion. And it's not blindly following without evidence. It is the evidence. It's the leaves moving and the feeling of our hair affected by the breeze that proves the air is moving, even though we can't see it.
Faith is not a way to get God to do what we want Him to do for us. It's a gift from God that gives us the ability to trust Him and to do for Him what He wants from us. In the movie Days Of Thunder, Cole Trickle has a moment of panic and fear on the race track. His crew chief tells him that he can drive through the problem if he will do what he's told. Scared,Cole doesn't want to do it. Harry, the crew chief, tells Cole, "Go around those wrecks. You can drive through it. I know it in my heart." Of course, Cole drives through it, excitedly shouting that he made it and the fear that had gripped him disappears. But the fear didn't leave until he had driven through the wrecks on the track. That is faith.
It's also Hollywood and bogus. Harry may have believed in his heart, but he had no real way of knowing and no way to control or even to help the outcome. God doesn't ask us to blindly and without thought or reason trust Him. He asks us to trust Him after much thought, with the only reasonable and logical response. When the crazy starts, when the danger looms, when the world is folding under the weight of the curse, we have one option of someone to turn to who has never lied to us, who has never manipulated us, who has never once told us things were going to be OK when he or she had no way of really knowing that, just to calm us down. There is only one person we can turn to who has the power to always do as He says He'll do and a flawless track record.
I trust my Dad. If he tells me that ice on a pond is frozen enough for me to walk on, I'll walk on it. I carried a canoe across a frozen lake once on his word. I might still be afraid, but I'd try the ice. I'd still be afraid for two reasons. One, I can't always control the fear within me. In fact, I usually can't. The assurance of someone I trust, like my father, may enable me to walk on out on the ice, but it doesn't erase the fear. The fear gets killed with every second I'm on the ice without it cracking. Once I am out there long enough to see that it's not going to break, I can relax. Once I am on the other bank I can feel no fear at all. I made it. And the next time it's easier to trust Dad. That's why I trust him at all, because he's proven himself trustworthy.
That's also the second reason the fear remains. My dad has proven that I can trust him. He's also been wrong. More than once. He's made mistakes. He's been right with me much more than he's been wrong, but....there's almost always that little nagging thought. What if he's wrong? But no matter what that voice says about my Heavenly Daddy, He's never been wrong before. He's never fallen short.The more I drive through the wrecks in my life on His word, the more I trust Him to guide me through them the next time. That means I keep going. I drive instead of stopping. But it doesn't mean there's no fear.
As the wrecks of life happen around us, and our instinct becomes to panic, we can trust our Daddy. That gives us a quietness about us and a peace that enables us to override fear and do what needs to be done, even if what is needed is for us to simply wait for God to move. That quietness can be spread to others and help us point to the grace and power of the One who gives that quiet, that lack of disturbance that keeps panic from ruling our actions and reactions.
Last Sunday I stepped back into the house from my mediation to find my wife a wreck. She was very upset and panicked. The paper she had been working on for school all week wasn't on the computer. She knew she saved it, but it was gone. She couldn't go to church. She had to start over and redo everything she had done. To make it worse, she had cleared her browser history the night before and had no record of the sites she had used for research. She was discouraged and defeated. I stayed calm by grace. I say grace, because I knew that I needed to be calm, but all I could think was how could I possibly fix this, how could I help? I sat down and began hunting for the paper. Slowly she began to calm down. She didn't have any real hope yet that I'd find it. Her fear was definitely still there. But the panic had died, and she began to be OK. After a few minutes I found the paper and she relaxed and immediately thanked God for His providence and His faithfulness.
That is one instance where I was able to be an instrument of God's peace by sowing faith in field of doubt. That's one more time when God had me that I can lean on when I'm trying to listen to the voice that says trust over the fear screaming in my ear. Sometimes things don't go my way, but God has never once failed to work things to my good, as He promised. When we pray to be an instrument of God's peace, it doesn't mean there won't be storms or that we won't be afraid. But it does mean we'll have the grace to remember the One we can trust, and our trusting His proven track record only proves it more, over and over, and shows those struggling with doubt His love, His power and His glory.
Peace Prayer Of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment