Why Faith?

Historically we know that in the beginning God created Adam and Eve, they fell from His grace and were banished from the Garden of Eden; Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel and we also know that Cain killed Abel. God then witnesses the constant sinful nature of mankind begin to spiral out of control as they put the creator on the back-burner and so God eventually decides to destroys his creation and all inhabiting it, and only eight souls are saved. Noah builds an Ark which in turn saves his family and the animals selected by God He wanted saving. Once Noah completes the task at hand God commands the heavens to open their bellies and they drop rain. The great flood ensures what God commissions it to do, destruction of all outside the Ark. All of creation obeys the voice of God except the rebellious. 

We then move down the genealogy of mankind and we will pick it up with Abram, who God gives a new name, Abraham, known and recorded as the father of faith. God singles out a man to begin a relationship built on a completely different fundamental that Adam and Eve faced, faith and not sight was now the playing field for mankind, Wow! I hope that thought grips you as much as it has me. Not to say that visually the heavens where open to them, but they certainly understood that God was real. Adam interacted with God and there can be no doubt that that was a completely different time and somewhat foreign to the world thereafter.   

Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the day and interacted with God, there was no questioning His existence. Today everyone is opinionated about God and what that is for them on an independent level, simple put they place him into a box that suits their sins and their desires. However a new precept was introduced down the line, faith the glue for true believers to engage with the creator of the universe. Lucifer and a third of the fallen angels never needed faith to believe. They once cohabited heaven with God, Abraham on the other hand wrestled with the concept of Idols (dead gods) which his father and the land he lived in at the time where obsessed with. Historically we learn that he smashed all his fathers’ idols and was hunted to be killed (the book of Jasher). God then sends him to a far away land and he packs up and leaves without hesitation; ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF FAITH! Noah was also a man of faith and he came before Abraham, but it was only with Abraham that God makes a covenant with a sect of people, the Jews and promises him to look out for them. Throughout the ages many of his descendants also disappoint the great I AM. Thankfully God’s promises are not dependent on our ability to uphold our part of the deal, where we are found wanting God remains faithful, He cannot deny himself.

An individual cannot realise salvation without faith. However, untried faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain weak so long as it is without trials. Who else was tested like Abraham, there are no doubt many men and woman of faith penned throughout the scriptures, but none of them where asked to sacrifice their son, the son of promise. Abraham the father of faith! Do not think for a single iota that if we want to prove our love to our Father, the God of the universe that we will be without trials and the deeper we look to take that relationship the harder the trial. Can the olive produce its oil without the pressure of two stones grinding down on it?

Faith does not require logical reason as some may imply, all it is, is a dependency on God’s ability to steer the ship and be content with the His ability to keep us safe, especially through the storms of life. As the beating waves smash into the hull of our lives, with the creaking mask under the pressure of the torrid wind tearing into our main sail, the quandary of life and death tugging away at our minds; do we cry, “drop the sail” of do we push through to safety trusting in our God? It’s only the trials of life that proves who we all are when it comes to faith.

If even the winds and the seas obey the voice of our great Saviour, why do we worry? Sadly we have a fallen fleshy body that always looks to pull us towards independence. The greater our faith the harder it must be tested so that we may be sure of its substance; the louder the call, the greater the need for a fuller measure of faith.

“Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone