We assume so, so much about everything.
We assume loved ones will still be here when we disappear from their lives, we assume our health will remain good, we assume others are telling the truth, we assume the government will take care of us. We assume the lights will come on when we flip the switch, the faucet will run clean hot and cold water, that the toilet will always flush correctly, that the furnace will come on, that so-and-so will always love us, or things will never work out. We assume we will always be poor, always fall short, or never be recognized. We assume we will have our sanity tomorrow when we wake up just like we’ve been in our right mind everyday so far.
Do you realize how much of our lives are built on future projections of assumptions? And do you realize how much of God’s workings in our life is not built on any assumptions but promises and guarantee’s which have never fallen short, ever, in the history of the world? The promises of God are not established by public opinion. Is your relationship with God built on assumptions or is it faith? They are not the same.
God knew from the beginning, that we’d have to live by faith. But in so much of our lives we are taught to operate on assumption and conclusion. Sure, often it is a starting place before some folks get to faith. Assumptions and conclusions were invented by God for us to decide and choose by, like in business. We make assumptions about future business based on past business, projecting about how we should conduct business in the future. It is wisdom. But God did not ask us to live according to assumptions and conclusions based on those assumptions, but by faith. We don’t find our firm foundation in assumptions and conclusions based on those assumptions.
Faith is not only something you exercise, but is a place you stand, even when you don’t want to, you still stand. One definition of faith is — trust training. Even when all assumptions and conclusions say no, you still stand. When you have made all your assumptions and postulations, after all the data is gathered, and all the conclusions you can make are made, you still stand. Like when Peter walked on water. He had some assumptions, he possessed the personally observed data that water will not support the weight of a man on his feet, and his conclusion was probably you can’t walk on water. Yet regardless of all logical assumptions and conclusions, he still believed Jesus more than he believed his conclusions about water. He still believed, and did still stand.
Within the Hebrew idea of faith is not even a thin shadow of assumption and conclusion. Assumptions and conclusions based on those assumptions are shifting sand, and faith is solid ground. In fact, the idea of standing is very prevalent within the construct of God’s idea of faith. When we say we live by the “faith of the Son of God”, it means we lean in our heart toward God prior to our leaning towards anything else, it means, first, everything about us is an upward pointing to the sovereignty of God. Faith is about the sound you make before you make a sound, and everything about us follows after our faith, as something so common to us it is second nature. Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
In Deuteronomy 5:31, where it says, “stand here by me“, it was an invitation to possess faith. In Mark 11:25, the phrase, “whenever you stand praying” is a declaring of faith by planting your feet, and is derived from a similar Greek word for “stand” as used in 2 Corinthians 1:24, and 2 Corinthians 15:1, used 163 times in scripture. 163 times, hmmm, must be important.
i would say standing in faith is a big deal to God.
It means to be stationary and to persevere, as in, after you’ve done all you can do to stand, stand therefore. Don’t just do something, stand there! Moses said to the people “stand still”, in other words, “take a position, and be not swayed otherwise”. Faith, not assumption, is a pillar on which the house stands. AND, “to fall” is a visual of “to be pushed aside or change your position”, as in …. “we can either stand in faith, or fall to sin”, sin being a motivator to change our position towards faith.
Isaiah 7:9 “If you will not believe, surely you will not be established.”
The world says I should not believe God loves me. Possibly according to their reasoning by assumptions and conclusions based on those assumptions, they are not wrong. I still believe he does, i am witness to the miraculous and the evidence. Even when the night is dark, the wind is howling, my sails are ripping, and deep water is coming over the side of the boat, I still believe God.
Years ago, a lady came to our home fellowship and needed a knee replacement, and the Lord told one fellow to go over to her, touch her knee with the tip of his first finger and pray for her healing. By all assumption and conclusion it was a dumb thing to do. He still believed it, and the room became electric. After a brief prayer, nothing dramatic, and declaration of healing, she stood up, jumped up and down, walked all around the room, and by all assumption and conclusion it should not have been so, but she still believed it and it was so.
On another occasion, a man came to our house, and as we sat on the porch talking, i realized he had blisters all in his mouth, so much so he couldn’t hardly talk. All of his joints just ached and screamed at him. He had Lyme Disease. There was a flow of faith in me beyond myself and I said out loud, “You don’t have that disease anymore, be gone in the name of Jesus.” It was nothing dramatic, but more matter of fact, almost casual. By all assumption and conclusion, it should not have been, but I believed it like it was perfect knowledge sitting in my middle. A while later the fellow had no more blisters in his mouth, nor did his joints ache, and it was all so subtle he didn’t realize he didn’t have the problem anymore until he was on the way home. These few stories are not the result of the shifting sands of assumption, but the solid ground of faith. Still we believe God. Still we stand.
Ananias and Sapphira assumed no one would catch them in their scheme. i believe they had done what they were doing before. Wrong. God saw. In Mark 8 Peter assumed he was in a position to advise God, assuming to take upon himself authority he did not have. Wrong. Simon the sorcerer assumed the power of God was a commodity to be bought, sold, or traded. Wrong, God is not for sale and neither are you. To put it mildly, their assumptions didn’t go well. Assumptions and conclusions are part of our decision-making process, and they can also be very wrong to our detriment. God didn’t call us to stand on assumptions. He called us to stand in faith. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
Is your relationship built on assumptions and conclusions based on those assumptions, possibly, merely parroting someone else, or do you stand on the substance, the solid ground of faith?
What do you think?
