Here’s the sobering truth delivered by my fav devotional author, Henry Blackaby: Your relationship with God is largely determined by your faith.
He points to this scripture as his foundation.
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
Don’t we all want to “please” God? Don’t we all want His rewards? Of course – and then I start thinking “so what does that look like?” I tend to think more in terms of how I act, how much scripture I consume and meditate upon, how my prayer life is going, and so often the oh-so-hard-to-admit…how my life circumstances are going.
A good friend just blew off our planned coffee meet-up (said she forgot so I thought she must not really value time with me – that hurts), the zoom training I was doing got stuck in the powerpoint plus I couldn’t speak a full sentence well and it took 6 re-takes to finally get a decent recording done, then I once again went over the month’s budget and finances with a sigh of despair, and, of course, that was when the hot water heater failed flooding all the surrounding area in the basement. Lord! Where ARE you?
So how’s my relationship with the Lord at that moment in time? Yep, I am way too dependent on circumstances as the measure of my relationship—or at least wondering if God is really in my corner.
Blackaby’s scripture pointed to 2 things that I must believe: first, that He exists, and second, that He is exactly who He has revealed Himself to be in Scriptures (which means that He will respond to me when I earnestly seek Him). Honestly, I am not feeling a strong relationship with Him and do stray to wondering what I have done to displease Him.
What’s the problem here? How can I “keep the faith” when all the situations around me are overwhelming me? Yes, I realize I cannot struggle at the core of my relationship with God and still have a good fellowship or relationship with Him. What is missing is trust!
As Blackaby instructed me, faith does not eliminate problems (oh darn!). He says faith keeps me in a trusting relationship with God in the midst of my problems (read this as “circumstances”).
I could be a really moral person, perform tons of good works, speak all kinds of supportive Godly scriptures and truths and even make sacrifices of time, money and kind assistance, but Blackaby would tell me I was walking by sight rather than by faith (Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.) Sure enough, Blackaby was right when he said faith keeps me trusting when nothing around me, circumstances and situations, is going well by worldly standards – it’s about relationship with God despite my circumstances.
OK, so I checked another source hoping to be given a little slack in this harsh truth. I asked what does “keep the faith” mean? Here was BibleHub’s answer: “Keep the faith” centers on steadfast commitment and unwavering trust in the truth of what God has revealed. It involves holding fast to Scripture and living in a way that displays allegiance to God’s promises, commands and redemptive work through Jesus Christ.” Oh yes, this definition had to end then with “one not only intellectually agrees with biblical truth but also practices it faithfully in all circumstances.”
This does call back memory of the earliest Christians – believers who faced persecution and social pressure to abandon their convictions. Yet, as shown in Acts 8:1-4 they persisted in “keeping the faith” by gathering for worship, preserving apostolic teaching, and living out Christ’s commands. There is even archaeological findings of inscriptions and meeting places like the catacombs in Rome showing that early Christians clung to the promise of eternal life through Jesus – despite facing death for being a Christian.
I can rest a bit in that I am not in such dire circumstances. Yet it made me reflect on why I am so distraught based on looking at my circumstances. It struck me that comparing my situation with early Christians – and even Christians in other parts of our world that are being persecuted – made me realize how grateful I am for where I live, my many circumstances for which I am appreciative and look back a bit to remember where God has shown up in my circumstances when I knew “for sure” it was Him rescuing me, encouraging me. There’s that Trust.
How many times have I not followed what God tells me to do unless I can see all the resources in place first – and it makes sense to me?
I realized what an impact this “remembering that for which I am grateful” had on my mindset, my attitude, my realizing that those things for which I was grateful were provided and orchestrated by my Lord and Savior. And that I could just simply camp on the fact that He is my Lord and Savior and there is nothing else I need.
As Blackaby wrapped this up, he mentioned the people who say they are not much of a person of faith – they are more “practical”. His response was that you will never do anything more practical than to place your trust in the Lord. It boils down to that “trust” word – without any basis in practical thinking or worldly circumstances. I am now putting the word “faith” right next to and intertwined with the word “trust”.
And the final words of Blackaby – fully deserving to be memorized by me – “nothing is more secure or certain than that which you entrust to God.” Amen to that!
