Here is a nice little reflection written by a church member and friend Gordon Pierce
I imagine many of you have had
something similar to this happen to you. You life or a family member is in a
troubling time. There has been some kind of disaster in your life, and you are
not in a place you wish it to be. Then a well-meaning Christian crosses your
path. They say to you something like “Trust God”, “Have Faith”, “Keep the
Faith”, or “Pray about it.” “What?” you ask to yourself. These people are probably trying to comfort
you by saying these cliches. They do not realize there really isn’t much
comfort in these words.
Perhaps in these same bad times you
may hear a sermon that makes similar assertions. Its subject is about Trusting
God, Having Faith, or Prayer. The result of the sermon is for you are about the
same as what was said to you, not much help for the state you are in.
I remember very distinctly hearing
a sermon some years ago that was based on the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The
eleventh chapter of Hebrews is commonly known as the “Faith” chapter. The
Pastor used several examples of people of faith identified in this chapter as a
basis for his message. The “Who,” “What,” and “Why” were well explained. The
“How” was sadly missing.
For example Abraham had faith that
God would resurrect his son, this is why he took Isaac out into the wilderness
to sacrifice him as an offering to God. Abraham was stopped in the procedure.
God provided a Ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac. The pastor mentioned a
few other examples of people with faith. Throughout the message, however, I
kept asking under my breath “How?” How did Abraham have the faith enough to
trust God when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac?
How do we get so that we trust God?
We wrestle with trusting God because He is invisible. We can not verify his
existence by sight. He normally (?) does not speak to us in a human sounding
voice or any voice at all for that matter. He does not leave us sticky note
sheets with instructions written on them. Problems exist for us increasing our
faith. When I hear someone’s personal faith being questioned or my personal
faith, I think about when I was a second grade student. I had to stay after
school a few times. It seems I had a propensity to chat. Often, I was told to
stay after school because of my behavior. I was then given a chore. I had to
write, “I will not talk in class” 100 times on a large blackboard. Now to
change my behavior regarding faith, can I increase my faith by writing “my
faith must increase” on a blackboard 100 times? Somehow I do not see this
working well.
As you can see, there is a trend by
Pastors and well meaning Christians to attempt to encourage us in our Christian
walk by giving repeated cliches. But, the “How” seems to always be missing. So
how does one learn how to trust God or how to grow in faith? I do not suggest
that I possess a rock solid answer to this question. Neither can I offer a
spiritual pill that will help you in these spiritual arenas.
My personal experience wrestling
with trust, faith, and prayer has been one of frustration. However, I have come
to a partial answer for getting better at them. Reading scripture is key. Often
while reading the scriptures something stands out that will make my “a-ha
light” go on in my mind. The text in the Bible seems to be double sized and in
bold as I read it. It is at these moments I come closer to trusting God, having
my faith grow, and seeing the necessity of prayer. The Gospels and the epistles
seem to hold a lot of those “a-ha” moments for me. The Books of Psalms and
Proverbs may also help. I am not 100% at peace with these terms yet, but I am a
work in progress.
Prayer is an area in a Christian’s
life in which faith in God may be realized. Again, I do not offer a “Do this”
answer to the question “How do I pray?” I only know that it works.
Some years ago I was attending a
small church where the pastor did all of the preaching, adult Bible teaching,
music leading and a myriad of other things. On Wednesday evenings the church
held a prayer meeting. The pastor announced that he was about to have an
operation. He would be recovering for a few weeks and would miss church for a
time. He had a procured substitute pastor to take care of the preaching. He did
not have anyone to lead the adult Bible study held Sunday mornings before
service. He asked Prayer meeting attendees if anyone could take this duty. The
next thing I knew my right hand when up and I thought; “Pierce, what the heck
are you doing? You do not know anything about teaching the Bible.” I felt like
taking my left hand and pulling my right arm down. It seemed to be stuck
straight up. Too late, I was spotted. I was thanked for taking this
responsibility. I told the pastor he was “welcome” and I wondered “What in the
world am I to do?” He said I would be needed in the role as the adult class
leader in two weeks. After the prayer meeting he offered some advice on how to
prepare and deliver the study. His statements were found as a small comfort for
me. What was I to do? Suddenly I remembered I enjoyed listening to Dr. John
MacArthur teaching through the book of Daniel on WARV Christian radio a few
years ago. “I will teach from the Book of Daniel.” There was a lot of reading
of the Bible and several Bible commentaries for the next ten days. The night
before I was to lead the first class I had a panic attack. Debbie and the boys
were out of the house for a reason I now forget so I went into our bedroom and
got down on my knees. My prayer went something like this. “Lord please give me
a cold or laryngitis so I can not speak. Debbie will have to call the church to
tell them I can not teach the class in the morning.” This type of rhetoric went
on for quite a while. Finally as I was about to wrap up my prayer I heard in a
wee small voice deep in my head say “My grace is sufficient for thee…” (2
Corinthians 12:9). A wave of comfort came over me. I taught the adult Bible
class for the next three years. God does answer prayer. This is just one of
many examples I could give from my personal prayer experiences.
We can Trust God. We can grow in
Faith. We can learn to pray more effectively, but there is no magic “How?” It
is by spending time looking for God in His word and in prayer.
I am afraid I have heard many
sermons that do not explain the “How.” Isn’t the “How” the answer we all need.
Below I have included a few Bible verses that can help the person wishing to
address the issues touched on in this essay.
Finally an observation, totally
unrelated, Abraham must have been one strong old man. Have you ever attempted
to grab a goat? It is no easy task. A ram is a much larger and stronger animal.
Hats off to Abraham.
Hebrews 11:6
John 6:44
Ephesians 2:8 (Key verse)
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