Faith is not having conclusions. Faith is not being qualified. In our Western version of Christianity we are, basically, fed a line of thinking which says “If you have faith, you will have answers and conclusions. If you have faith you will prosper and never suffer, and if you are poor and are suffering, obviously you don’t possess the faith to rise above it all. And if you are sick or poor, it is your own miserable lack of faith which keeps you there.”
That is simply not true. Suffering is as much a part of Christian living as not suffering and we are always measuring each other as to who is more sinful, more blessed, closer to God (or not) than we are. Always measuring. “So-and-so must be more sinful than i am because they have way more problems than i ever thought of having. i don’t see what could be wrong with them, but look at them, things aren’t well with them, and things are well with me, therefore, i must have more faith and more favor with God with less sin in my life than my neighbors.” That is simply not true.
The Jews of Luke 13 seemed to feel that bad things happened to bad people of poor faith, and good things happen to good people who have lots of faith. This is called retributive theology, which says, “If i am good to God He will be good to me, and if things don’t go well for me then surely i must have done something wrong.” Do good, get good, do bad, get bad. Jesus said that is absolutely not true. Job was a righteous man according to God (Job 1:8) and there was not another person on earth like him, yet he suffered a lot of heart wrenching things. Jesus was the most righteous man there ever has been, ever will be, and He suffered heart and body ripping, terrible things also. Was it that they were sinful or their lack of faith which caused their suffering? Did Abraham leave not knowing where he was going because he didn’t have the faith worked up to get that level of answers and conclusions? Or was God just being ambivalent with him, jerking Abraham around? You may think that’s silly, but hey, i’ve met more than a few believers who told me they’d have to “work up their faith to get the level of answers they wanted”? “Work up your faith”? How do you do that? Faith doesn’t come in instant faith spray on cans from Walmart, or in bags and all you have to do is add water, and presto, you’ve got some extra faith. It comes a great deal differently than that.
Because we have no answers doesn’t mean we have no faith!
In Hebrews 11, did Sarah have to wait for 10 years after it was prophesied to her that she would have a child because she didn’t have any faith or because she was sinful? Did the early heroes of the faith become martyred because they didn’t have the faith to escape persecution and they somehow deserved to die because they were faithless and sinful? Do we not have answers to important questions because we don’t have faith? Or are we not able to come to some of life’s necessary conclusions many times because we don’t have any faith? Many times we don’t know what God is doing, but we are required to trust Him until His purpose and direction comes clear. i don’t understand many times, but i’m willing to believe and wait because i believe God is right in what so ever He does.
Having no answers doesn’t mean a lack of faith!
Being willing to wait in the interim space of having no answer is faith, and in that space of waiting with no answer and no conclusion God creates faith. Sometimes, waiting is like exhaling and waiting too long to inhale, and there grows an ache and an urgency that begins in our body, sometimes waiting is like the ache between an exhale and an inhale.
Job’s counselors were NOT willing to live in the space of no answers and no conclusions, and as of today, many many people equate “having answers” with “having faith”.
Jobs friends or counselors told Job (Job 8:20) that if he would just confess he was corrupt and in sin that in no time God would give him blessing and prosperity and he’d be back on top of the world again. If he had admitted to something that wasn’t true just so he wouldn’t have to suffer Job would have violated his firm adherence to his moral code of honesty, even though he didn’t have any answers. Faith and joy are not grasped and possessed by admitting wrongs which did not occur, no more than not being responsible for our actions and being indifferent generate real happiness.
Having faith doesn’t mean having answers, but more being willing to trust God and live in that space of time without answers and without conclusions. Having faith is sometimes like being in that space of waiting between an exhale and an inhale, the space of no answers and no conclusions, and to me, it always feels like there’s not enough air and i am dying.
Let us trust God who is completely trustworthy. He is faithful and righteous, and even when we don’t know the answers, God is still with us who believe on Christ, and we can be assured that our answers will come at the right time, the best time, in God-time, and it will be enough.
Be still in the time of waiting, take advantage of that time rather than resenting having to wait. It is God’s timing that we are between and exhale and an inhale, trust him, He is building extraordinary faith in you!
i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.