I've been re-reading and re-writing my Romans notes from this summer (unfortunately my Journal only made it a couple weeks at SWO before falling a part). The other day I came across the notes I had written on Romans 4: 20-21 and was reminded of how much I LOVE those verses!
Here is an excerpt from my Journal on them:
Romans 4:18-21: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'so shall your offspring be'. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised”
Every time I read this passage it makes me shiver with excitement! Though this passage is specifically talking about Abraham Scripture is full of those who lived and acted on this kind of faith (Daniel, David, the centurion and Paul to name only a few more).
I think that there are several things that we allow to cast doubt on our faith and/or things we allow Satan to use to come between our faith: Some I can think of right of hand I have noticed several times in my own life: Circumstance, Fear, and the flesh (pride and control or self-sufficiency/Independence). These things can cause despair, anxiety and depression…things we can become enslaved too. We must contend against them.
Circumstances: It is easy for us to claim the promises of God when things seem to be going well in our lives, but what about when things go wrong? I think we forget that the very definition of faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). We know God’s promises but our belief wavers depending on our circumstances and we allow doubt to take hold (like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind James 1:6). Satan knows this. He knows that he can use our circumstances to attack our faith and often we let him! Our belief that God will fulfill his promises is not based on our circumstances but based on who God is.
Fear:Other times I think we do believe God will come through and that he does have the best for us in mind…but our minds are clouded with fear… how painful will the process be? This reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote which states “we are not doubting that God desires the best for us…we are wondering how painful the best will be” I think this fear is two-fold: fear of the initial pain itself and an underlining fear that, despite what we claim to know, God won’t come through for us, that we will be left hurt and alone with no one to turn to. (We know that the worst thing that can happen to us is to be separated from God). Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”Pain is inevitable in our world. God does not promise us our lives will be painless (in fact he warns us of the opposite!) however, he does promise that he will be with us through our pain and that everything we go through he allows for a purpose...and no matter how bad it seems he has the power to work it for our good, and to bring glory to him through it.
Flesh: (Pride/Control/Self-sufficiency etc) I think this is perhaps the hardest pitfall for believers today. Our culture screams that we should be self-reliant, and that we should not have to trust or lean on anyone besides ourselves. This is the opposite of what the Bible says. In Proverbs 3:5&6 we are urged to trust in God and not in our own understanding. The very definition of faith takes us from our natural default of relying and depending on ourselves to depending on God, and things that we cannot see an outcome for. Pride/Control/Self-sufficiency whatever you wish to call it can become a stronghold between us and the faith Abraham has in this passage because it can become a ‘god’ of its own.
In Crazy Love Francis Chan’s description of a lukewarm Christian is the perfect example of how this ‘god’ isn’t simply a stronghold against faith, but leads to a frightening image of those who are independent of God. He writes “they do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens-they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them-they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live-they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis-their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.”
We should never trust ourselves before/instead of trusting God…it almost seems ridiculous to think about: we are sinful, depraved mortals who have limited knowledge, resources and we would rather take matters into our own hands than put faith in the God and Creator of the Universe.
In order to have faith we must contend with our flesh every day and remember that it is not about us but about God. We must remind ourselves who we are not and who God is. (Psalm 103 is a great picture of this)
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