Have Faith in God!

 I want to begin this little meditation with four simple, one-syllable words we hear Jesus speaking in Mark 11:22 – "Have faith in God." Do you have faith? What do you have faith in? Jesus said, "Have faith in God." Careful study reveals Jesus is within five days of His death on the cross in this text. Scholars explain "the morning" referred to in verse 20 is Monday morning before Jesus died on Friday. The Son of God was moving inexorably toward the cross like a moth to the light. Back in Mark 10:32 we are told Jesus and the apostles were "on the road, going up to Jerusalem," and the Lord went on to remind the apostles that betrayal and mistreatment and death were waiting on Him there, but that "the third day He will rise again." In the space of a few short days not only will Jesus suffer, but His disciples’ faith will be severely tested. The faith of all the apostles will fail and they will temporarily abandon Him out of fear for their own safety. Eventually all of them save Judas will recommit themselves to Jesus. With all that ahead, the Lord speaks these four challenging words: "Have faith in God." Somebody observed that God makes bends in the road because He doesn’t want us to see that far ahead. That’s where faith comes in. Scripture teaches the road of life has many bends. We are extremely limited as to how far ahead we can clearly see. Proverbs 27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Again we are admonished, "whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow" (James 4:14a). What will happen tomorrow?" God’s word says, "you do not know." Because of that Jesus’ words still speak to our hearts – "Have faith in God." Speaking of our eternal home in heaven versus the temporary tent (body) we live in here, the apostle Paul declared, "For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith in a good and great God gives us confidence and hope even when we can’t see around the bends in the road ahead. We may not know what will happen tomorrow, but we have faith in God that He is already there, and that no bend in our road catches Him by surprise. Have faith in God!

Scripture never teaches we can know all things, or that all things that happen to us are good. It clearly teaches this: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom.8:28 NASB). God is good ... all the time. If God can take something as awful as Jesus’ suffering on the cross and use to it bring about good, we can have faith that He is with us through the painful things in our own lives. Have faith in God! A story tells about a group of scientists exploring remote regions of the Alps in search of new species of flowers. One day, through binoculars, they spotted a rare, beautiful specimen never seen before. Its value for scientific study would be incalculable, but it lay deep in a ravine with cliffs on both sides. To get the flower someone would have to be lowered over the cliff with a rope. A curious boy was watching nearby, and the scientists offered to pay him if he would agree to be lowered over the cliff to retrieve the flower below. The boy took a long look down the steep, dizzy depths, and said, "I’ll be back in a minute." A short time later he returned with a middle-aged man. The boy told the scientists, "I’ll go over the cliff and get that flower for you if you let this man hold the rope. He’s my dad." As Christians, we can trust our Heavenly Father to never let us go. Have faith in God!

             by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN