FOCUS ON FAITH

Focus on Faith

Is your faith on a sure foundation? Someday it will be tested!

All of us enjoy giving a gift that the recipient will really like. As I was growing up, and it was my father’s birthday or some other occasion when we planned to give him a present, I often looked for something made of genuine leather or stainless steel. It was a sure thing that a gift from either of those categories would be a success. My dad would look at it and say, “Genuine leather!” or, “This will last a long time; it’s stainless steel.” We could be sure he really appreciated that gift.
There is something the Lord really appreciates, and that is faith. In fact, we cannot please Him without it. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith is a precious commodity in the sight of the Lord, and the wonderful thing is that God gives each of us a measure of faith—the very thing we need to please Him.
Put faith to work
The amount of faith we have is not as important as how much we are using the measure of faith given to us. You have enough faith, and I have enough faith, but we must exercise it—we must put it to work.
There is a formula in Scripture that lets us know how we can activate our faith. We find in Hebrews 4:2 that we must mix our faith with the Word of God. That is not difficult! As we read the Word of God, we find that there is something for us to do, and as we obey what the Word says, we get the desired results. It is that simple. It does not matter if we are young or if we have been serving the Lord for seventy years. This formula works.
In the Book of Exodus, we read about a mother who exercised her faith in God. Her name was Jochebed, and she was the mother of Moses. This woman lived at a time when the Israelites were in bondage to the Egyptians. Because the Israelites were multiplying rapidly, the ruler of Egypt decreed that when an Israelite woman gave birth to a male child, the child was to be thrown into the river. When Moses was born, Jochebed knew that his life was in danger. Her faith in God was tested. I am sure she communed with God, agonized in prayer, and pled with Him for the deliverance of her child. Her faith reached out and anchored in something besides her own reasoning or what she could do about the situation. She touched God in faith with her request for her infant son.
The day came when she realized she could not safely keep her son in their home any longer. I do not know how God gave her the plan, but she set about making a little basket out of bulrushes. We read that she pitched it within and without, and placed her baby inside. Then she carried the basket out to the Nile River—the very river where they were drowning the young male babies—and placed it among the bulrushes. She instructed Miriam, the child’s older sister, to stay at a distance and to watch that little basket. You can see the trial of her faith here. Would her child live or die?
Then came the reward of her faith. Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe in the river and noticed the basket among the bulrushes. She had it brought to her and found that it contained one of the Hebrew babies. When the baby wept, her heart was touched, and she determined to keep the baby for her own. Then Miriam ran out and said, “Would you like me to get a nurse for the baby?” When the princess agreed, Miriam went and found Moses’ own mother to nurse and nurture that little child. What a reward for Jochebed’s faith!
Each of us must have a foundation for our faith and a trial of our faith. And someday, if we hold on, we will receive a reward for our faith.
The faith of a child
Faith is not difficult. We know this because little children have faith. One day, when my daughter, Robin, was very young, my wife was sick. Robin did not understand why her mother was not up and about. When I explained that Mom was sick, she told me very firmly that Jesus could make Mom better. I said, “That’s true. We could pray for your mom and Jesus could make her better.” Well, she wanted to pray right then. She said, “Let’s pray,” so we got down by her mom’s bed and prayed. Her prayer was just a few words long, and when she was done, she jumped up and said to her mother, “Get up!” Her mother got up, and the Lord healed her right there.
The starting point is a sure foundation for our faith. Many people have been raised in homes where it was customary to attend church. That is good and important, but it takes more than a church background to provide a solid foundation. Someday it will need to be your faith that reaches out, not Mom’s or Dad’s. Someday it will need to be your own prayer that God answers, not the prayers of the minister of your church. When that day comes, you need a firm foundation underneath you.
In 1 Corinthians 3:8-14, we read that the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. He is the One we must build upon, if our faith is to hold steady. There are all kinds of materials out there for us to build with, but we must build on the right foundation, because the day is coming when our faith will be tried. We do not know what we are made of until we have been tested.
In the building industry, when they pour concrete for big bridges and other structures, the construction engineers must be very precise regarding the ingredients, because that will determine how much the concrete can withstand. Inspectors test the concrete periodically as it goes down into the forms, performing what is called a slump test. They put the concrete in the form and then pull off the sleeve and do some calculations to see if the concrete holds its shape. It must measure up to the specifications so it will have the needed stability when the building is completed.
A test of faith
We all will be tested. Just as the faith that had been planted in Jochebed’s heart was tried, ours will be also. God wants us to stand the test. The beautiful thing is that we can do so, by the grace and help of God. There are all kinds of promises in God’s Word that will work for us when our faith is tested. We can take hold of one, and no matter how difficult the trial may be, we can exercise our faith and hold on.
I will never forget when my trial of faith came. It was in October of 1980, when a doctor’s diagnosis changed my life. I walked out to a waiting room where my wife sat, and I told her, “They think I have cancer.” I was just a young man, and I had three small children. What was ahead for me and my family?
The people of our churches around the United States began to pray for me. I believed God would heal me, but the tumor in my body grew to the size of a large grapefruit. Eventually, the cancer began spreading throughout my body, up my back and into my lungs. Many nights I rolled on the floor in pain, praying that God would give me strength and help me to hold on to Him.
There is one important thing to remember about trials and tribulation: they are only for a certain period. There is a time frame for every test, and God knows exactly how much we can take. He knows whether you can take ten seconds, ten minutes, or ten days, and He will not permit it to extend beyond what you can bear. He knows His business.
In His own time, the Lord healed me. The tissue became non-cancerous, but the specialist who told me so also said that all the praying in the world would not remove the tumor that remained. Today, however, that tumor is gone!
The reward of faith
We know that Jochebed held on. She triumphed in the trial of her faith, and God rewarded her. Her little son, Moses, one day became the promised deliverer of the Children of Israel. If we hold true, one day our faith, too, will have a reward. In the Book of Revelation, we read that the church at Smyrna was told, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” In Revelation 22:12, it says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Are you looking for that reward for your faith in eternity? Make sure you are built on the right foundation, and hold on through every test. Someday it will be worth it all!