Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)
You hear people talk about God giving them faith to do something, and perhaps you think… that’s silly! Faith comes from ME, not from God. He gives me something to have faith IN, but not the faith.
Well, I would agree with that. But I would add that perhaps there is some truth in the second part of that. “He gives me something to believe in…”
Do you remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal? Israel was deep into idol worship and ignoring the True God who loved them. Elijah was given the task by God of reminding them (often) how badly they were choosing. Well, one time, he challenged all of the prophets of Baal to take him on in a god-vs-GOD match-up. They accepted.
The story itself is hillarious… there is trash talk and taunting from Elijah, and just plain silliness on the part of the bad-guy prophets. They dance, and yell, and cut themselves trying to get their god to show his goods… but since he is in fact IMAGINARY… they get no where.
Then Elijah steps in, and sets the stage for the impossible (just read 1 Kings 18 for the rest of the story…) and then he says this:
1Kings 18:36
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
Those last (and underlined) words stuck out to me as I read it. At your command. I had always imagined that this was a clever scheme Elijah had dreamed up. We don’t have any account of how God had instructed Elijah to do this, but we do have this line. [I] have done all these things at your command. I think that is so key to the way that God works.
God does not expect us to come up with the miracles, and ask him for them. It seems to me that God’s pattern is to initiate our faith with a leading to believe him for something that is unbelieveable.
We see it here with Elijah… he asks God to prove that everything he was doing was not just possible, but actually AT GOD’S COMMAND. GOD initiated this whole “stunt”… to show his greatness. Elijah was not making God perform, he was proceeding under the assumption that in fact God WOULD perform, since apparently, God said he would.
I did not just decide that God was going to give us the watershoe… God put the strong leading in my heart and in my head that he wanted to do something. (Read the story for more)
Noah did not decide to build the ark. Moses did not decide to go to Pharaoh and wave a wand and make all those plagues appear and dissappear.
God is the initiator. He prompts us when he wants us to trust him for something.
We actually do this with our finances as well. We do not ever ask for money for any music performance. I felt strongly that God wanted me to do this when we started, and he has continued to provide crazily in that way. It wasn’t my idea… I want to ask for money quite often… but God reminds me gently that he has a better plan in mind.
And so I believe.
It is my own faith, but it is instigated by a loving Father who knows how He wants to reveal himself to me and through me.
And boy does he! 🙂
So, the more you walk with him, the more you will hear him, and the crazier the thing he asks you to do… do it. And I am pretty sure the reward for crazy following will be crazy to follow suit.