A Fresh Look At Faith

Reading the account of the birth of Jesus I think we look at the story through our own life perspective and miss the truly humbling circumstances in which Mary and Joseph fulfilled the will of God. Then they had to deal with the circumstances of both poverty and the hatred of the government through king Herod.

Following God’s will is never as simple as we think. We often encounter what I refer to as “Pot Holes” in the road of faith that tend to try and hinder our commitment to keep going. I think we often feel that if we are on the road that God desires us to be on, that God would smooth out those pot holes and make our journey safe and satisfying for us. Alas, I rarely see that happening.  Our walk of faith is a walk of struggle and often uncertainty, yet it is a place in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father.

In order for the birth of Jesus to take place, God put his plan into effect with a 14 year old girl, who is poor and who just got engaged. Most girls at that age, in our time, are not getting married. For Mary at such a young age just getting engaged had to be a very emotional time and girls her age would rarely be thinking straight. But God “TRUSTS” her to follow the path he provides. This makes me wonder how often I hesitate when God speaks about a choice or journey he wants me to take that has more “Pot holes” than I care to encounter. Mary doesn’t seem to hesitate, but quickly says: 

Luke 1:38 

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Then there is the account of Joseph, a righteous man who intends to compromise his understanding about a woman who must have committed fornication and should be stoned (Deu 22). He is torn by his love for God’s word and his love for this young girl who was intended to be his wife. What a dilemma he faced. Not only is he poor, but now he is expected to reject the woman he loves. I can think of many situations in my life where the two options I had both looked terrible, but above all I wanted to honor the Lord with my best. These challenges of choice cause great trauma to our soul and most of us fail to realize the pain someone like Joseph must have gone through. Maybe that someone is you? Trusting God is always best but it has a price.

Matthew 1:19 

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

Funny how the scripture says “After This” Joseph has a dream. Was he exhausted from trying to figure out how he could salvage his future marriage, or was he exhausted from the sheer emotion of his heart to obey what he thought was God’s will? In either case there was a period of time God let him wrestle with the options before him. I see from scripture and experience that God often let us “Flounder” in such dilemmas because it purifies our souls like a furnace. Heat is the only way to purify metal and it is the same with the human heart. At the end of his exhaustion God brings an answer.

Matthew 1:20 

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 

When we read such a verse we have to consider that God spoke to Joseph direction that appeared to violate his understanding of the scripture and of the facts. He had to either trust the black and white of scripture or the divine revelation in a dream. Any Christian given the same circumstances probably would have stuck with scripture rather than revelation. Especially revelation that came through a dream. In our modern Christianity we don’t often trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit because it is not as concrete as scripture is. Yet scripture is often misunderstood, being colored by tradition and doctrine. Maybe because Joseph was poor and probably not well educated he was in a better place than we are to trust divine revelation, or maybe he had a habit of trusting divine revelation. My fear is that we  discount divine revelation in dreams because we are taught phycology in school, but not spirituality.

I believe there are times when God challenges our understanding of scripture and our understanding of its application. The latter can mess with our world of faith. There have been times in my journey of faith when I had to choose trusting my understanding and logic, or trusting what was hidden from me so that I would really learn the principle of walking by faith and not by sight. Walking by faith is a nice idea until God decides to test us in order to make faith more than a philosophical concept, but a tangible reality.

2 Corinthians 5:7

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

In the end we know the story well: that Joseph took Mary as his wife regardless of what other people would say about him and his faith. Mary embraced being pregnant with the savior of the world in spite of what people would say about her all of her life. These two people didn’t just make a simple choice when angel visited them, but they made choices that would affect their whole life.

There are choices you and I will be given that, if we follow through, will affect all the other choice down the road. These things may not be to our liking or our preference, but in the end will glorify our Heavenly Father in more ways than we can imagine.

Consider Job when you reflect on Joseph and Mary. All three experienced changes that affected them forever. Job trusted God so much that God had a battle with Satan and all the angels. Heaven was watching how Job, Mary and Joseph chose to enter the proverbial “Lions Den” because they loved God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. We may be presented with one decision that will affect all of our future choices to obey God or live by our own wits and reasoning. God lets us make such choices but know this: when you choose the path that honors God it’s not only him that sees, but all of heaven.

The stakes are high when it comes to living for God or our own pleasure.

Questions:

1) Have you ever been given a “Choice” about your life that seems very difficult to make? Scripture says we need to trust the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding (Pr 3:5-7)

2) Have you failed at making the right “Choice” for God and his kingdom, rather than for your own well being? Read James 1:2-3 and realize God is at work in refining your character and that, my friend, takes a lifetime.

Seeking God and seeking his will …

Pastor Dale