When Our Faith Fail – Part 2
Scripture: Hebrews 11:6; James 2:14; 26; Acts 8:18-19; 1 Peter 2:24
Introduction:
Two weeks ago in part one of this series I shared with you the five equations that I will be covering in this series. As a reminder, they are:
o Faith + Stupidity + Action = Stupid Actions
o Faith + Unbelief + Action = No Results
o Faith + Wrong Belief + Action = Wrong Results
o Faith + Some Belief + Action = Some Results
o Faith + Right Belief + Action = Right Results
In part one I covered the first equation: “Faith + Stupidity + Action = Stupid Actions”. If you recall, my example was the woman who believed God for a husband, but the man she believed God for was already married to someone else. I also briefly talked about Simon and his desire to purchase the ability of laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Spirit. I shared with you that there is a little bit of Simon in all of us as we all desire power, praise and adulation. However, these desires can work against our faith as it did in Simon’s case.
I ended part one with a brief introduction of the second and third equations. I combined them because of the overlap between them. The example that I used to get your minds to start thinking about what you believe about God and how that belief impacts your faith was sickness and calamity. I talked briefly about individuals who believe that when they get sick it is God who made them sick in order to get their attention or as a test for them to pass. This belief is also held by those who believe that when bad things happen God is sitting in heaven orchestrating these destructive things to teach us lessons. During the discussion on sickness I asked you this question: “If God was the cause of your sickness, should you pray for healing?” I asked you to consider the fact that if it was God’s will that you be sick then it would against His will that you be healed so why pray about it? I asked this question to help us understand how this belief really does sound different when we ask the logical questions confirming the outcome of such beliefs.
In my introduction to these two equations I shared with you how we actually teach unbelief in our Churches. From the pulpit we tell people that God is good and good all the time, but then turn right around and tell them that God will use sickness, disease and calamity to punish them when they sin or to test them to see if they will be faithful. This is one reason why God’s children find it hard to believe in Him and trust Him. We are sending two different messages when we praise God for the blessings and then credit Him for the sickness. What I hope to accomplish this morning as I continue with the second two equations, is to get our minds focused on the balanced teaching of God’s word. In part one I told you that some of these beliefs around God using sickness to get our attention comes from the story of Job; Paul’s thorn in the flesh; and the story of Peter. This morning I want to start with the story of Job and dissect what truly happened in the story with Job. Hopefully after today you will consider this story in a different light, or just possibly in a way that will help you see God in a different light. Before we go to Job I want to remind you of the Scripture Rev. Williams read for us last week from Jeremiah 29:11. It reads: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” These are the thoughts that God says He has of us, thoughts of peace and not evil; thoughts of ways for us to have a future and a hope. He is not thinking of sickness, pain, death and other calamities. Keep this in mind as we examine a few Scriptures from the book of Job that calls into question the beliefs that God will cause us to be sick in order to get our attention and use calamities in order to teach us a lesson.
I. Job’s Understanding And Statements Were Not Based On Truth
Let’s start with Satan coming into God’s presence and ultimately questioning why Job serves God faithfully. Turn to Job 1:6-8. It reads “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Consider Satan’s response to God’s question. When God asked Him where he came from Satan answered that he had been walking to and fro throughout the earth. At this time Satan was already the god of this world because Adam had given his authority over the earth into Satan’s hands in the Garden of Eden. God knew what Satan had been up to – he had been seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8 says ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.) Remember, even though the world was wicked and Satan had many followers, there was still a remnant that belonged to God. To this end God asks Satan had he considered His servant Job. I believe God did not ask this question in order for Satan to test Job, but I believe God was actually bragging on Job and the fact that Satan had not been able to make him falter.
Consider Satan’s response in verses 9-11: “So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” Notice that Satan already knew a lot about Job which tells us that he had been considering Job, but he did not touch him. Here is what we need to see, Satan gave a testimony of the goodness of God in all that God had done for Job. No where in the list does it say God had made him sick or made him to suffer – but that God had blessed him. Satan could not turn Job because even though he might have planted the seeds of doubt in Job’s mind, Job did not let those seeds grow. Because Satan could not reach Job that way, he accused Job of worshipping God only because he was blessed and things were going well for him. Do we know any Christians like that? Christians who praise God and bless Him when things are going well only and get made at God the first time something does not go their way? Now read closely what God says in response. “And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord” (Job 1:12) If you read this the way we have been taught to read it, it sounds like God was giving Satan permission to do whatever he wanted to do to Job as long as he did not touch Job’s body. But, is that really what took place? I do not think so. Remember, Satan was already the god of this world and he did not need God’s permission to do anything on this earth. Satan could do whatever he wanted at this time. But it appears that Satan did not focus his attention on Job because he knew Job would not turn his back on God. But, he thought it was because Job was blessed, not because of his love for God and that is where he made his mistake. In God’s response, He was just confirming what Satan had the right to do, but He cautioned Satan not to touch Job’s body.
God had faith in Job that he would not turn his back on Him if he lost all of his possessions. Does God have that kind of faith in you and me? God was not giving Satan permission He was actually imposing a restraint on him. Now for those of you that believe that I am misinterpreting what we have read (and I admit I could be wrong based on what some bible scholars believe), I want to put this to a test and see what you think afterwards. Let’s say for a moment that God did give Satan permission to harm Job and kill his family and that He does allow Satan to do certain things to us when Satan comes in and get permission. Remember that Satan is still the god of this world for those who serve him, but he has been stripped of his authority. When Jesus rose from the dead He stripped Satan of his authority over us but all too often we give it back to him. Do not misunderstand me, Satan is a very powerful, evil being who can cause a lot of damage, but we have been given authority in this world if we choose to walk in it. But back to my point. Let’s listen in on what a conversation between God and Satan would sound like when Satan comes to get permission to harm and/or test us. I am going to ask Rev. Fulks to join me for this demonstration. I will represent Satan and she will represent God. Please listen closely to this conversation.
Satan Coming To God For Permission
God: Satan.
Satan: God.
God: (Looking at the papers in Satan’s hands) It looks like you’ve had a busy weekend.
Satan: Yeah, I got some big plans this week.
God: Okay, let’s get started.
Satan: This guy here has money problems. I want him to lose his job so he goes on
unemployment and loses his home, his car and his family.
God: I will allow it.
Satan: This woman – she’s been sleeping around and I think she deserves the
AIDS virus because of her sin.
God: I will allow it.
Satan: I got this six year old who likes to play with his ball in the front yard. Today
he’s going to lose control and it’s going to go into the street and the boy is
going to be hit by a car. I want you to allow him to die.
God: I will not allow that.
Satan: Why not?
God: It’s not his time to die. When his time comes we’ll talk.
Satan: This guy here is always smiling and telling people how much you love them and how good you are. Now, since you won’t put anything on a person that he can’t bear, I want him to have a series of problems – heart attack, wife leaves him, loses his job – you know the typical stuff. I want to see if he really believes what he says.
God: No heart attack but I will allow his wife to leave him and him losing his job.
Satan: Ok, one more for this week. I had some great success with Hurricane Katrina. This time I want to use an earthquake and destroy San Francisco and ensure that you get all of the credit.
God: No.
Satan: Why not? It’s been five years since I had something major in the US.
God: No. See you next week.
If you consider what God said in Jeremiah 29:11 this conversation could not take place. If I overheard God having this type of conversation with Satan it would be very easy for me to believe that everything that happens to me is because He allowed it to happen – that at some point there was a negotiation that took place and I ended up on the short end of them. This is not what happens. If this is not the case, then how did the story of Job cause us to start believing that God was responsible? Let’s read a little further and I think we can find the answer. In verse twenty of chapter one, after Job had received word that he had lost his flock; his servants; and his children, Job rose, tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshipped. Let’s read what he said in verse 21: “….Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We praise Job for this saying because after he had lost everything, he did not curse God because in his mind God had a right to give it to him and to take it away. But Job did not know that it was not God and therefore his statement cannot be taken as fact even though the statements confirm how much faith he had in God.
Job did not know that Satan was behind what he was going through. Since he knew that God had blessed him, he assumed (as we often do) that God had also decided to take it away which was within His right to do. Even though he believed this, he refused to speak against God. Now thousands of years later, we take what Job said and run with it. When something bad happens, we quickly quote Job: “The Lord gave it and the Lord has taken it away – blessed be the name of the Lord.” It is not God’s fault and sometimes it is not even Satan’s fault. Sometimes the fault lies with us and the decisions we make. But my point with this is that Job made the profession without knowing that God was not the cause of his situation. He did not understand what was really going on so he went with what he thought he knew. It is amazing how we can read this story and see the whole point and still we walk away thinking just as Job thought, except for some of us when we come upon hard times, we do blame God and turn our backs on Him.
What we believe or not believe has a direct impact on how we walk in our faith. When we add unbelief to our faith we are essentially nullifying our faith because we are “trying” to have faith in something that we do not believe in. This was not what we witnessed with Job. Job believed that God had blessed him and thus had the right to take back what He had given to him. When you read the entire book you will find that Job’s wife and friends also missed the boat for they too believed that Job had done something to deserve what he was going through and if he could just repent, everything would be all right. This brings me to my next point and I will stop here and pick this up next week.
II. Sometimes Bad Things Happen To Good People
Job’s friends thought they were doing right by Job by trying to get him to understand that he must have done something to deserve what was happening to him. Job 4:7 records the following question that one of his friends asked him: “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?” His friend went on to explain that he had witnessed men receiving what was their due at God’s hands. It was difficult for them to see their friend suffering without their being a cause and since there must have been one; it had to have come from Job’s own sins. What they were trying to tell Job was that he deserved what he was getting and that for it to end he must repent from whatever sin he had committed.
I share this part of Job’s story with you so that you understand this point: bad things happen to good people without it being their fault. Why is this important to remember? When we believe that we deserve what is happening to us, the prayers we pray for deliverance are prayed with unbelief. If you believe that you are getting your just dues when something bad happens in your life, you accept it as your new reality. We must understand that bad things will happen, but it does not mean that we deserve them and therefore we should pray with full faith for deliverance. How easy do we say “So and so is reaping what they have sown…” when it is to our benefit and when we are happy that they are going through rough times. If you believe that I am getting what is due me, please do not pray for me because your prayers will be ineffectual because in your heart you think I deserve it and God is giving me what I have earned. Are you starting to see how this belief that God is behind our sicknesses and calamities can easily enters into other areas of our thinking? Next week we will examine Paul’s thorn in the flesh and Satan’s testing of Peter. Until then, may God’s blessings be yours.
