Do you have faith?

Do you have faith? Are you living by it? These are important questions. To both we all would probably say, "yes". But upon closer examination would that answer hold up.

I imagine that if you asked the Pharisees if they had faith they, too, would have said, "yes". In fact, they might have been indignant that you even asked them that question. "Of course, we have faith. Can't you see by all the religious rituals we perform?"

And yet, the truth be told, they might not have been living by faith. When this newcomer (Jesus) came on the scene they weren't too open to Him. They were pretty settled in their ideas. They were really expecting God to do much else. They had it all figured out.

Jonathon Edwards once said, "I observe that old men seldom have any advantage of new discoveries, because these discoveries are beside a way of thinking they have long been used to. If ever I live to years (old age) I will be impartial to all pretended discoveries and receive them, if rational, how long soever I have been used to another way of thinking." Edwards makes a good point here that as we get older we get settled in our viewpoints and aren't really looking for God to shake us up or open us to new ideas. When you think about this you'd have to say we can get a bit arrogant thinking we've got it all figured out and will cruise to the finish line of life. That lack of expectancy or faith may be very detrimental.

In our reading today Israel was in a very hard place. They were under seige and were on the verge of being wiped out. The situation looked bleak. But God, by the prophet Elisha, declared that the situation would be turned around in a day.

When the captain of the king heard Elisha's declaration he doubted. He said, "If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" Elisha's response to him is telling. He said that indeed this miracle would happen, and that this captain would not be able to enjoy its reality. As the story progresses we see God do the impossible and we see this captain missing out in a big way.

As I consider this, I have to ask myself the question, "Am I expecting God to do the impossible, or have I pretty much settled in to a comfortable lifestyle? Do I have faith and am I living by it? Will I miss out on what the Lord might do because I have ceased to be amazed by Him?"

What about you? Are you living by faith? Is there anything in your life that is "on the edge" for which you just have to trust the Lord? Have you got everything figured out in your beliefs so that you no longer expect to be surprised by the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God?

I hope these are encouraging questions that will encourage us all to live by faith. That is the life to which we are called, and there is none so pleasing to the Lord (without faith it is impossible to please the Lord) and delightful to His servants.