The Focus of Faith

“Everything is possible for him who believes.”  Mark 9:23  

Let’s be honest.  God doesn’t always do what we want, and we often wonder why.  If we’re even more honest, we’ll admit that we sometimes struggle to determine if the divine inaction was due to God’s perfect, providential plan or our own lack of faith.  The question is legitimate, but please don’t be misled.

There are those who preach and teach that if you only believe, you will receive whatever it is you’re hoping for.  The bigger bank account, the better car, the right relationship, the miraculous healing, physical safety, emotional security, and financial prosperity will all be yours when your faith is finally big enough to believe that these things belong to you.  This philosophy, sometimes dubbed “Name It & Claim It,” is a misnomer.  It’s not true because it places faith in the wrong place.  The phrase, “I’m believing God for __________” is often used to describe the desire for favor or blessing, but more emphasis and importance seems to be placed on the gift rather than the Giver.  To keep this from happening, we need to make sure that before we fill in the blank, we fully understand the first few words—“I’m believing God.”  Only when we grasp what faith in our Father looks like can we trust Him more deeply and tell others more accurately about our precious God and His gracious gifts.

These thoughts swirl in my head today because of two funerals last week, friends who are struggling with cancer this week, and some seriously dangerous situations that friends of mine are facing as we speak.  Why didn’t God spare the ones whose bodies lie in the cemetery?  Why doesn’t God heal the ones who daily deal with the hurt and havoc of chemotherapy?  And can I be certain that missionaries who are being hunted like prey in closed countries will not be arrested, tortured, or executed?  Did the families of the deceased simply not have enough faith to deter death?  Do the ones who love the ailing not believe big enough to claim their healing?  And if those who care about the perilous plights of God’s people in other places say they will be safe, will they?  The answer to each question above is either, “Because God is God,” or “No.”  And to believe both answers we must have faith—faith not in the WHAT but in the WHO. 

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”(Heb 11:1), but this faith so highly commended and heavily rewarded is not confidence in an action but in the Almighty.  It is absolute trust in God Himself, not in blessings He might bestow which make us happy or keep us healthy.  It is faith in God—“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”(Rom 4:3).  Nowhere in the Bible are we given blanket confidence that our certainty of something happening will bring it about, but in many places and many ways we are granted absolute, unshakable assurance that God is control, that He is working His will in His way both in heaven above and on earth below, and that our souls and salvation are eternally secure in either place.  Our faith is not in the happenings around us but in a holy God.  

The dad of the demon-possessed boy in the Bible stood before Jesus distressed, dismayed, and discouraged. “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us,” he pleaded(Mk 9:22).  “If you can?” Jesus responded. “‘If you can?’  Everything is possible for him who believes.”  And suddenly the man realized that what mattered most was not his hope for help but his hope in the One, the only One, who could help.  “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief’”(Mk 9:23-24).

His prayer should be ours, for we continually feel the tension between trusting God for who He is and trusting God for what we want Him to do.  We should believe that our God can do anything He wants, and we should believe that God will do everything He wills. The bigger our faith in who God is, the bolder our faith in what He does—even when that “what” isn’t what we wished. 

We can’t always be certain of God’s hand, but we can always be sure of His heart.

Believe God—not just because He does but because He is.