Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Heightened Faith

There are times when our faith becomes flat and unimaginative.  We lose our sense of childishness with God.  It is odd to consider just how wide the age gap is between ourselves and the Lord and how little we know about anything compared to Him.  The silliness of our complaints and the pretentiousness of our insights would be irritating to Him if He were not God in every way.  Nothing speaks more of the   grace of our Lord's love than His response to the preening pride humanity brings to the relationship.   Like a child who screams at his mom for not letting him play with the rattlesnake on the trail, we convince ourselves we know more than the creator of the universe.  Rather than happily playing in the front yard, we sulk in the back because we have chores to do.  Faith in God brings back the joy of our childhood.  With wide-eyed enthusiasm, every experience had a touch of heaven built in it.  We loved beetles and mud puddles and hikes to the "top of the mountain" and puzzles and helping take out the trash.  Every step outside is an adventure; every trip to the store a journey.  Faith opens for us a freshness to life; a laser sharp attention to all the joy that can be found in it.  If we know that God will put our children back together and open a way out of our financial distress and take us through the loss that has devastated us, we can relax and look for the good God is working out for us.  Faith for Abraham included all the dreams he had of playing with his son as he watched his eighty-five year old barren wife start dinner.  Faith gave David as he fled from Saul's army time to day dream about the party that would be thrown when he was crowned king.  Faith brought a grin to Moses' face as he contemplated the celebration that would occur when all of Israel crossed over into the Promised Land.  It is impossible to taste the sweetness of the plum in my hand when I am fretting about the meal for tomorrow.  Faith, not success or even healing is the gateway to joy.  An entire universe of happiness is available if you would believe God will take care of you and guide you through the rough waters that have made your boat ride more adventurous than you planned.


Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.   You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.   Isaiah 26:2-4 NIV

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