Faith Without Understanding This past week, I visited one of my larger accounts that I manage for the company that I work for. The account is Georgia Power Company, and the facility is one of the largest coal burning power plants in the world. There are acres and acres of large buildings, pipes, and cooling towers as tall as the skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Each time I visit this customer, I am overwhelmed at everything that is required to produce electricity for all of us. Now, I have a basic knowledge of the process that this plant goes through to produce electricity, but I really don't understand how they generate it and store it for my needs at my home. What I do have faith in is the fact that when I flip my light switch up, the light will come on. I have never questioned the fact that since I don't understand how electricity is made, therefore I don't believe in electricity. My wife, Julie, had Lasik surgery a week ago today. She didn't really understand what the doctor performing the surgery was going to do, but she had faith in him to work on her most valuable organs of the body. Julie did research the procedure to gather as much information that she could about Lasik, but she still didn't understand everything about the surgery before she submitted. Today, she can see very well without her need for glasses. The point of all of this is to say we often accept things in this world that we don't understand. We accept them by faith. But many times when it comes to our faith in our Lord, we say, "I don't understand that. It just doesn't make sense so I can't really believe that." You may be thinking, "Now Robby, I have the faith that my lights will turn on as long as I send a check in each month to the power company. But I just don't understand how the Lord can fix the situation that I am in now." I tell you by faith! How important is faith in the Bible? The NIV Bible has the word faith listed 245 times. Some scripture examples include: (Matthew 9: 29), "Then he touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith it will be done to you." (Matthew 13: 58), "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." (Matthew 15: 28), "Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour." (Mark 11:22), "Have faith in God,' Jesus answered." (Luke 7: 50), "Jesus said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 17: 5), "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith." (A good prayer to ask.) (Acts 14: 9), "He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed." And one of the more powerful verses can be found in (Romans 10: 17), "...faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Notice that not one of these scriptures, or any of the Bible scriptures, will say, "Since you understand, your request will be granted." Understanding is just not an important principle of God's kingdom. I know that you desire to have a better understanding about some of the things that you may have gone through or may be going through now. I know this because I sometimes ask God the same questions. But God is not interested in our understanding, He desires for us to have faith in Him for our needs and requests. Let me share a Biblical example. In the Book of John 3: 1, the Bible says, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council." You see, Nicodemus was a very wise man that had extensive knowledge of many things including Old Testament writings. He was a ruling member of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a dominant group of Jewish people having teachings that held to a strict observance of legal rules. In other words, they made up several "rules" to follow that made sense to them that God would like. These were outward laws that didn't affect the inward heart. They wanted to understand everything that they followed. They were having a difficult time understanding the teachings of Jesus; therefore, they did not believe he was who He said that He was. (Do you ever not believe because you don't understand?) So Nicodemus, "came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." (John 3: 2) Here, Nicodemus tells Jesus what he understands from his personal observation. He is engaging Jesus so that he might better understand Jesus and His teachings. So I assume that Jesus will answer Nicodemus here and explain to Nicodemus why He was sent so Nicodemus can understand, right? No! The next thing out of the mouth of Jesus is, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (vs. 3) What? Now Nicodemus must really be thinking, "I try to start a conversation with this man to understand what He is teaching, and now He confuses me even deeper about his teachings." So Nicodemus asks to understand Jesus' statement, "How can a man be born when he is old?...Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (vs. 4) So surely here Jesus will explain to Nicodemus what He means so Nicodemus will have a full understanding, right? No! Understanding is not a principle of God's kingdom. Faith is! Jesus goes on to say, "You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going." (vs. 7) In other words, you need to believe this even though you don't understand it. You hear the wind but you can't see it nor know where it comes from, but it's still there. Jesus never explains just so Nicodemus can understand. Jesus continues to speak about faith. He says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (vs.14-16) Again, the Bible doesn't say, "Everyone who understands that Jesus was the Son of God will have eternal life." It says, "everyone who believes in Him." This takes faith, even though sometimes in our earthly mind it is hard to understand. Some of our friends don't get this "God thing" because they are placing too much on their own understanding. Now, what is hard for me to understand is from the reference that Jesus just made about Moses. You see in the Book of Numbers chapter 21, the Israelites who were following Moses began to get very bitter of their circumstances. They began to complain to Moses and to God. (Do you ever become bitter of a trial and begin to complain to God instead of praying by faith?) The Bible says, "Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died." (Numbers 21:6) The Israelites realized their wrong ways and, "The people came to Moses and said, 'We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, 'Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.' So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." (vs. 7-9) Notice here that the Lord didn't take away their trials (snakes). He provided a way out of their trials when they were bitten by the snakes. (Do you reckon that the Lord still does this with us sometimes?) Now the part that is hard for me to understand is this. There were probably many Israelites that refused to look to the bronze snake after they were bitten. It just didn't make sense to them. The real crazy thing is some of these bitten people were probably in the very presence of Moses and the pole. (Kind of like sitting in church hearing the message but choosing not to believe because it doesn't make sense.) Faith is a key principle of God's kingdom. Have faith in the Word of God and all of its promises. Have faith that God can deliver you from the sting of your trial. Have faith that the Lord will guide you toward the purpose of your life if you ask Him to direct. The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." And that's A Good Word and a promise! Robby |
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