Over the years I have never heard faith
defined this way. It wasn't until within the last month that I really
came to the conclusion that this is faith. True faith trusts in the
fact that God loves us and knows and tries to lead us to what is in
our best interest. Yet I have never heard it preached.
As my birthday came around this year, I
thought back to my first birthday after conversion. I remember not
really wanting to get any gifts, but I also remember a prayer that I
made. In my time with God, I asked for a high temperature of 76
degrees Fahrenheit that day with mostly clear skies. The weather
forecast didn't look too promising with rain on the way, but I
thought that surely since my parents wanted to do something for my
birthday that my heavenly Father would also. So I laid the request
out there expecting that if that would be best He would do it, and if
not that He wouldn't, but I couldn't see the harm in having one nice
day. Not only was it 76 degrees with mostly clear skies, the church
had potluck, I got to fellowship with my friends for longer than
usual, and after the meal I got to ride in a convertible with the top
down to our weekly Bible study. It was a great day far exceeding what
I asked.
Memory lane took me to a time a few
years later when I made the same request for different reasons. It
had been a tough semester when my birthday came around this time. I
was adjusting to the workload of the IT department, my heart had just
been recently broken, the weather hardly ever seemed to be sunny in
the canvassing program I was in, putting it simply I was miserable.
So I asked for another 76 degree clear day because I wondered if God
cared. That year was a partly cloudy day that was considerably colder
than what I asked for.
The difference between the two occasions
is very important. It was the same day of the year with the same
request, but different reasons behind the request. When I initially
asked for that kind of beautiful weather, it was because I knew God
cared. The second time it was to prove if God did care. I didn't
really understand why God didn't answer my prayer the second time,
but there was a reason. I didn't believe in His love for me or that
my best interest was on His heart, and that is why my request could
not be answered.
Disbelief in the love of God is what has
led to the fall of many. Lucifer lost faith in the fact that God had
his best interests at heart, and as a result went at work to secure
his own good. The rest of the fallen angels also lost sight of this
thinking that God was holding back something good from them. Eve
questioned God's provision for all her needs as she sought wisdom at
the forbidden tree, and Adam feared that his dying wife was all the
provision God would make for him. Sin started with all of these
unfallen beings through disbelief in the selfless, loving character
of God and that He takes care of all withholding nothing good.
“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23. If we took the
time to examine our decisions, we might realize that this unbelief is
at the foundation of every mistake we have ever made.
When we realize and fully believe that
God cares for us and knows what is best, we will not scoff at His
admonitions but cherish them, we will not vacillate between right and
wrong and we wouldn't struggle as we do. Why you may ask? Who would
want to settle for second best? If God has our best interest at
heart, whatever He asks of us is to that end. Yet in my own
experience every failure has been marked by my trying to manage
things for my best good when if I had trusted God's dealings I would
have suffered a lot less if not at all. We will only obey God as we
see that He has our interests covered and that we need not worry
about those things under His care.
These thoughts are reinforced by the
following quotation (which I ended up reading not long after
contemplating these things), “Faith is trusting God--believing that
He loves us and knows best what is for our good. Thus, instead of our
own, it leads us to choose His way. In place of our ignorance, it
accepts His wisdom; in place of our weakness, His strength; in place
of our sinfulness, His righteousness. Our lives, ourselves, are
already His; faith acknowledges His ownership and accepts its
blessing. Truth, uprightness, purity, have been pointed out as
secrets of life's success. It is faith that puts us in possession of
these principles.” Education 253.
