Think about an inexperienced sailor as he goes through his first storm. The storm terrifies him because he doesn’t know if the ship will survive. The waves are way bigger than he imagined. He’s never felt the wind blow this strong. Will he make it? Will he survive? But as the days pass and storms come and go, the sailor gains confidence that no matter how bad the storm, the strength of the ship is greater than the worst of the waves. The sailor learns that he can trust the ship. This trust of course is a decision.
Here’s a moment of truth - We must learn that faith is a choice, not a feeling.
In John 20, the disciples are telling Thomas they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Here’s Thomas’ response…
“The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
Note that Thomas said, "I WILL NOT believe."
Thomas cannot bring himself to believe the truth of the resurrection. Later, as Jesus appears in the room, Thomas expresses his faith. Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Like the sailor who makes a decision to trust the craftsmanship, the durability, and the sea-worthiness of his ship, you and I have to make a decision to trust God. Our feelings will often speak to us and tell us we cannot depend on God. You and I cannot listen to our feelings when it comes to the truth of God. We must stand on His Word. We must choose to trust him.
•What I feel doesn’t change what God’s Word.
•What I sense doesn’t change what God’s Word.
•What I see or don’t see doesn’t change what God’s Word.
Sometimes it’s difficult to figure this out. We tend to associate faith with how we feel at any given moment. It’s easy to feel like you’ve got a lot of faith when all is well, you’ve got money in the bank, your wife loves you, the doctor says you don’t have cancer, your children are doing well, your career is moving ahead, you’re happy at your church and all is right with the world. But what will we have when we run out of money, our marriage isn’t doing well, we end up with cancer, our children have problems, we lose our job, and life in general stinks. If all you’ve got is a “God of the good times,” then our faith is shallow.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
So often life doesn’t make sense. It’s here that our feelings get in the way. If we could just understand, if we could just make sense of what God is doing…then maybe we could choose to trust him.
Author Philip Yancey has a great definition of faith. “Faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” That’s one of my favorite definition of faith because it seems to be universally true. Right now-today!-lots of things don’t make any sense. Probably all of us have a list of things we would change if only we could. But faith, true God-honoring faith, looks at the perplexities of life and says, “I can’t see any reason for this, but I believe that one day I will look back and say ‘The Lord knew all along exactly what he was doing.’”
Hebrews 10:35-36 – “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
Today’s Challenge: So what about you? Will you choose to trust God? Or will you trust your feelings? I’m sure that right now you are going through something that is challenging your faith. We all are. Let’s decide today to put our full and complete trust in our God, who does not fail.
