Faith, faith, faith, doubt

Well, we've sure had a lot of faith recently!

We had faith (saved by), faith (living in) and faith (some gaps concerning filled).

And so, I think in order balance things out, I'd like to focus today on faith's ugly cousin, doubt.

I know that doubt has been glammed up recently in some circles. Believers are told it's good to doubt because that's the route to deeper faith.

And in one sense, that's true. Many of us have experienced it, and we certainly see examples of it in the Bible.

Sometimes, when we sincerely struggle with doubt and fear and then take it to God for answers, we come away with a greatly intensified understanding of the grace, wisdom, power and goodness of the Lord of the universe.

This kind of doubt (I'll call it "good-doubt") is necessarily founded on faith. In fact, without a strong pre-existing faith it cannot exist, because good-doubt compares the world to the promises of God and says, "Something's wrong here." It sees the problem clearly, but it is so full of faith that it goes directly to the Lord and confronts Him. It points out the problem and demands the explanation it knows exists.

That's the big difference.

Good-doubt is so focused, and believes God's promises so strongly, that when it sees a contrary reality it has to stop and ask, "What's going on here? God, You're in charge, and You have a plan. So what's this I'm seeing!?"

The book of Habakkuk explores this theme. Throughout the entire book the prophet lists the problems, sins, and evil triumphing over good that he sees all around him. But in the end, he comes away strong. The whole story can be seen in the opening words and the closing words:

Opening

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

Closing

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

But - all that said - this is not the kind of doubt I'm addressing today. Today I'm talking about "bad-doubt".

As the name implies, bad-doubt is pretty much the opposite of good-doubt.

Bad-doubt is doubt with just enough faith sprinkled in to confuse things. It too knows the promises, but when it sees reality not conforming, it slinks deep within itself and thinks, "Huh! Guess I was wrong. God's not actually in control after all...."

You see the difference, right?

One of the great passages in scripture on bad-doubt is James 1:6~8. For those who don't have it memorized, here it is:

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

What I like about this passage is that it gives such a clear and accurate picture of doubt in so few words (unlike a certain blogger my wife is married to...).

It basically makes five points about bad-doubt:

It compares the doubter to a wave of the sea.

This is a fantastic image for the opposite of calm, stable, confident.

The doubter is driven and tossed.

To me, this perfectly describes the experience of bad-doubting. When I give in to it, I am "driven" - pushed ahead with no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing. And then I'm suddenly "tossed" - flipped backward, confused and disoriented.

It's a scary and stressful experience.

It negates God's blessing to the doubter.

"... that person must not suppose ..."

This is something I won't profess to understand exactly, but it's clear (from other passages as well) that our lack of solid faith does affect how God deals with us, almost as if it limits Him.

The one who does it is "double-minded".

The Greek word is "dipsychos" which means "double-minded". (Huh! Go figure!)

But it also means "wavering", "uncertain" and "divided". And these are perfect descriptors of not only what bad-doubt feels like, but why it happens. Think about these words in relation to your faith. Do they fit? Or are they foreign?

It is a choice.

If it weren't, we wouldn't be commanded to avoid it. And what we can choose to do we can also choose not to do. That means it's a matter of the will. It's a decision we make moment by moment.

Okay now, enough of that.

Next week we move on.

Probably.

Living by faith - but what does that mean?

Welcome to the first ever WIP open-blod test!

There are only two questions here, so each is worth 50% of your grade. But don't worry if you didn't study. I'm going to give you the answers.

The first question is this: How are we saved?

Readers of last week's blod know the answer without any hints. But just in case...

The answer is this:

God reveals Truth about Himself - about who He is and what He has done or will do - and we believe that Truth. We are then considered righteous in God's eyes.

It's all about

• Taking Him at His word.
• Putting more faith in Him than in your senses, or your mental abilities, or yourself.
• Saying (and meaning) that whatever God has revealed you will count as true, no matter how impossible it sounds.

These are the things that God has required of us.

Paul makes it perfectly clear in his letter to the Romans (the quote at the top of last week's blod) that we are considered righteous by believing God in this way.

But an interesting thing happens a few books later. Paul went and used the exact same example of Abraham believing God's promise of a son in his letter to the Galatians, too. Except in Galatians he didn't use it as proof that we are saved by believing. In Galatians it proves another point altogether.

Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit [faith], are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh [works]? .... So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

You see what I mean? 

In this passage Paul answers a different question, which is this: How are we to live our Christian lives day by day?

And his answer is this: By faith.

So, we are to live by faith!

Yes, I suppose we all know that.
But what exactly does that look like?
That's where the rub comes.

If we're not careful, this "living by faith" can become one of those super "spiritual", discombobulatingly nebulous, and absolutely meaningless topics.

But (if you'll excuse my rudeness) that's all worthlessness and hooey. At least in my experience. Nothing too "spiritual" or otherworldly does a thing for me in real life. Nothing I can't solidly put my finger on in the real world will ever change the way I approach tomorrow or deal with today.

So what does it look like?

Well (if you'll now excuse my simplicity), the obvious answer is that living-by-faith looks exactly like being-saved-by-faith looks.

And so:

Living by faith means that in every moment of life we consciously decide to trust God's promises - even when everything and everyone around us tell us they are illogical, impossible and simply not going to happen.

That's it.

You learn the promises, statements and commands that God has revealed, and you hold on to those like a piece of flotsam in the middle of a stormy ocean.

And to make things even more clear, here are a few "starter kit" promises that relate very well to life as we know it.

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." (Isaiah 30:15)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
 

Now for question number two: What if you believed these promises were literally, absolutely and invariably true? How would that affect your actions, the way you think about things, and the way you relate to others right now and beyond?

One possible answer is this: It would change your life. 

Saved by faith - but what does that mean?

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 

"Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

(Rom 4:1~3)

God told Abraham he was going to have a son.

This was hard for Abraham to believe.

In fact, he struggled with it for quite a while.

There were several reasons for Abraham's doubt:

1. He was already an old man;
2. His wife was well past child-bearing age;
3. God had originally made the promise two and a half decades earlier, and nothing Abraham had seen in all the years since indicated the promise was about to be fulfilled.

Abraham was no dummy.

The promise was completely illogical, biologically impossible, and if God was going to do it, why in the world wasn't it done already!

But there came a point when somehow Abraham got beyond all that. There came a moment when he must have sighed and bowed his head and said: "Okay. I believe You."

And God replied: "That's all I ask."

Scripture tells us that at that moment, Abraham was justified. That is, whatever his "real" situation, Abraham had become completely righteous in God's eyes.

Paul uses this Old Testament account to explain what happens "behind the scenes" to every person who receives salvation in Christ. 

In my case, the story ran: "Tim believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

But just what was it I believed?  

I personally never heard a word about a son (and two girls later, I still haven't...). It was this:

• God, You can't possibly know and love me personally. But You do. It's illogical, but I accept it. 
• Lord, You can't really consider me to be perfectly righteous and completely without sin. But You do. It's impossible, but I believe You.
• Father, I confess I am weak, selfish, foolish, and sinful. You promise to make me like Your Son. I don't see it, but I trust You will do it in Your time.

This is all God asks of us.

The fool (this word is used here literally, not offensively) thinks he has to be good enough for God to save.

The Christian knows she will never be good enough. But that's okay, because God has promised to take away her sin and give her eternal life if she just asks Him to and believes that He does.

Some will say that makes no sense.

It makes no sense? Well, maybe not. But that's what God said. And that's all He requires.

In fact, if you somehow could make yourself "good enough" for God, Scripture tells us it wouldn't please Him one bit. 

I imagine the Almighty sighing and shaking his head and saying, "Yes, that's all very nice. But it's not what I asked for. I asked you to trust in Me. Now, why don't you go back and start at the beginning."

Anyone who's ever taken a test understands this. You can write the most witty, brilliant and philosophically-advanced answer in the history of test-taking. But if the answer is "3", you're not getting any points at all.

If you look around you'll find hundreds of Christian pamphlets with "salvation prayers" in the back. And every week thousands of pastors give altar calls, offering to lead those who come in a prayer to be saved.

The words and phrasing are all a little different. Some are long and complex. Some are surprisingly simple. But when you strip away all the emotion, fluff and grammar, you get the same thing: "Lord, I believe."

God speaks.

I believe.

God is fully pleased.