Faith Check

Have you ever read much of the Old Testament?  The stories that fill that portion of the bible are overflowing with repeated incidences of amazing displays of complete lack of faith in God, no matter how much He had done prior to His request of the Israelites. 

The Book of Exodus alone has so many stories of doubt and fear it is an absolute miracle that the “chosen ones” ever made it out of Egypt.  One story in particular struck me today as I was studying, it was the parting of the Red Sea. 

Not the parting in and of itself, or the ranting and raging that the Israelite people did at Moses prior to God parting the waters.  I truly understand their feelings; I am not too sure that I wouldn’t have been extremely panicked myself if I had been facing a huge army coming at me at full speed to wipe us out.

What caught my eye was a verse after they had crossed and the Egyptian army had been obliterated by the Red Sea closing back down upon them.  In Chapter 14 of Exodus, the last verse of this chapter says something very interesting about the state of mind of the people of God.

“And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared (revered, respected) the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.”   Exodus 14:31  (Defining of feared mine)

Did you catch that?  It wasn’t until after they saw God wipe out the Egyptians that they decided to trust Him and that Moses was actually being used by Him.  They had just been through 10 plagues in Egypt.  Each one foretold by Moses if Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go.  They survived the last one because Moses told them what to do after God gave him instructions.  They had been following a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.  The pillar moved as did the angel of the Lord and stood between them and the Egyptian army while the Red Sea did it’s thing.  Oh yeah, and the Red Sea parted before their very eyes.

They then walked across not on muddy, soggy ground, but on “dry ground”. with walls of water on their left and their right.  Yet, it wasn’t until the Lord caused those same watery walls to come crashing down and destroy the army that was pursuing them that they trusted that God was working on their behalf?  Seriously?

Of course, that is my first reaction.  That is often my first reaction to many of the stories of the Old Testament.  The difference is that I know the end of the story.  I wasn’t living it.

In my own faith story, I have done many of the same things that I shake my head in disbelief about when I think about the Israelites.  How many times has God worked a miracle in my life?  Yet, how often when the circumstances are not going as I would like do I make a big deal to Him and anyone else who will listen?

How many times do I take matters into my own hands and try to construct my own “golden calf” to get the money or whatever I need when I believe I need it rather than waiting for God? 

I looked at this passage again and thought “Yes, Lord.  I am guilty of doing the exact same thing.  Not trusting you until “after” I see my enemy dispatched no matter how much you have done for me leading up to that point.  I wonder, how much quicker would things happen if I just hold on to my trust and faith through it all no matter what?  What about you?  Do you think that it’s time to check your faith?

Let Daddy Take Care of It

Have you ever been wronged?  Of course you have.  Do you know what the bible says about what we are to do when someone treats us unjustly?  It says we are to do nothing against the person.  We are to be kind to them, bless them give them food to eat if they are hungry and something to drink if they are thirsty.  We are to let God vindicate us.  We are not to “defend” ourselves but to let Him do it.

I know that this way of thinking can be extremely difficult but think about it.  If you had a child that came to you one day and said that a bully had been roughing them up at school or just threatening them.  At first, you would give them advice as to how to deal with this unpleasant character, but if the situation escalated to the point that you felt that their safety was truly in danger you would tell them to step back and let you handle it.  You in your years of experience and wisdom would know a much better way to deal with this situation then your child.

If you use this same rationale with our situations and God it works out exactly the same way.  He knows a much better way to deal with the “bullies” in our lives than we do.  He will give us advice on how to deal with the circumstances to a point, and then He will say “Child stand back and let Me handle this.” 

There are many examples of this in the bible, one in particular is Daniel in the lions den.  He did not defend himself, he went through it, the lions mouths were shut up and the men who tried to have him executed were thrown into the lions den themselves.  The important thing to remember about God’s vindication is never, ever are we to gloat over another person’s misfortune no matter how much we think they deserve it.

There was a time in my life when I was very vindictive.  If you wronged me, I could come up with 14 ways from Sunday to get you back.  They would be so horrific that you would never consider messing with me again.  The thing is that on the other side of it I never felt better, I felt awful.  I always thought I would as I devised my “evil” scheme for retribution but it just didn’t turn out that way.  When I truly embraced my relationship with Christ and our Father I found that I couldn’t even devise these plans anymore, in fact it made me ill to even think about getting “even” with someone who had wronged me.  I had had a trued renewing of my mind.

The other thing that changed for me is that I found no solace when I heard that something bad had happened to them.  I felt terrible that they had had such ill fortune and prayed that God would use the circumstance to lead them to Him and Jesus, as well as help them to start living better lives.  This is truly what it is all about, not that a person has hurt us one way or another, but that we try to use every situation to bring another soul to the Lord.  These are cases where we can truly live out the scripture, “What was meant for evil God uses for good.”

So, when you feel hard pressed and put upon.  If you are being unjustly accused or attacked.  Ask the Lord to handle it for you.  Keep your motives righteous before Him by being loving in all you do and He will do what you never would have thought to do to take care of it.  You just keep standing firmly on the Rock of your salvation and let Daddy take care of it.

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