Last week we talked about faith and as we looked at a story about a man named Gideon we reached the conclusion that faith begins when we acknowledge that God is with us. If we remember the passage from last week, Gideon was in a winepress when the angle of the Lord appeared to him. Gideon immediately began to complain that God had abandoned the Israelites. “The Lord is not with us!” he proclaimed. The ironic thing, and what Gideon didn’t realize was that the entire time he was complaining that God had abandoned them; he was complaining to God himself. Sometimes in life we can’t explain why things happen the way they do. Sometimes we just can’t comprehend why God would allow something like the Tsunami tragedy or our parents getting a divorce to happen but faith doesn’t begin when we have all the answers. Faith is believing that God is with us despite the situations and circumstances.
While I was preaching that message last week God really touched my heart and as soon as I left the church, God began to challenge me and asked me a question that lasted throughout the entire week. All week God has been asking me the question, “Did you mean what you said? Do you really believe that the beginning of faith is believing that I am with you? Do you really believe that acknowledging my presence is more important that having answers and explanations?”
The reason he was asking me this question is because he was teaching me a lesson, and oddly enough it was same lesson that Gideon learned right after his encounter with the angel of the Lord. Let’s take a look at this lesson by opening your Bibles to Judges 6:25-32. (Pg. 238 in the pew Bibles)
Gideon has just had this amazing, crazy encounter with God in the preceding verses. He was able to begin his faith in God by acknowledging that God was indeed with him, no matter what. Let’s read what happened next in this story of Gideon ***read the text***.
There are two things that I think this passage teaches us about faith.
First off, as we look at the passage we just read, what God is saying to Gideon is the exact same question that God has been asking me all week. “Did you mean it?” God asks Gideon to make his new faith active by obeying the command that God has given him. This was no simple task either. As we read, the men of the town wanted to kill Gideon for tearing down the idols. Gideon knew this would be the case, in verse 27 it says, “he was afraid of his family and the men of the town.” Gideon very easily could have gotten angry at God saying, “Why do you want to put me in danger? Why do you ask me to do this?!” Gideon could have gotten mad after the fact that his reputation was destroyed and now he is constantly insulted by the nickname the men of the town gave him. But he didn’t! Gideon obeyed God despite the situation and circumstance! Gideon learned that the beginning of faith is acknowledging that God is with us and that faith continues when it becomes active in our lives.
Secondly, if you look at the beginning of verse 25 we learn something else. It reads, “That same night the Lord said to him.” God didn’t wait years, months, or even a single day to ask Gideon to put his faith in action. God asked him right away! Sometimes when people begin a relationship with God or when they say they believe in God they have an attitude that they don’t have to change anything about the way they live until they are about to die. I have heard some people say, “I’m in high school. I just want to enjoy everything and then I will pay attention to God later.” This isn’t the way a relationship with God works though. When we grow spiritually and take a step in faith God is going to immediately check our footing. God knows that if we really believe what we just said or committed to then our actions would back up our words. He is going to ask us, “Do you really trust me? Did you mean it?” Again, Gideon learned that the beginning of faith is acknowledging that God is with us and that faith continues when it becomes active in our lives. This week God spent His time testing to see how active my faith was in my life.
As some of you already know, I had a pretty rough week this week that seemed like it was one thing after another falling apart.
I got my W2 forms from the church on Tuesday which meant that I would soon have to sit down and figure out all my taxes. In previous years, I have used a website that does everything for you and all you have to do is print out the forms and mail them in. Sounds easy…accept this time it wasn’t. I spent a very frustrating couple of hours in front of my computer trying to figure everything out. Every time I thought I had done everything correct I would get to the end and it would tell me I had an error. Eventually though, I gave up, went home, and just tried to forget about it.
On Wednesday, I got up and went to go to work refinishing wooden floors. Normally on Wednesday’s I work three hours but today he only had enough for me to work for two hours. Things like this have happened throughout the last year as I have been flooring but usually aren’t big deals at all. This particular time though was one of many times my hours have been cut over the last month.
The previous week I just filed my paper work for my school loans which was going to mean another $300 a month that I had to pay for bills, not to mention the fact that I am getting married in August and I need to be saving money. These inconsistencies at flooring have been adding up now and have been making me a little worried about how I am going to just pay my bills, let alone save money. I left work though and again put it behind me. I was a little worried but I told myself that I knew God would provide and that I just needed to trust Him.
On Thursday, I had more problems at work. I got to the job at 8:00 and my boss was nowhere to be found. His truck was outside and a pair of his pants and boots were in one of the rooms so I was a little confused. I thought, “My boss is running around somewhere in the snow barefoot and without pants on?” I decided to give a call and found that his phone was off. I began to get really frustrated at this point. I tried to figure out what work needed to be done and after a few minutes decided to call my boss again. His phone was still off. I did as much work as I could with the tools that were there but it was only about a half hour of work. I called my boss again to see if I could reach him and his phone was still off. I left my third message of the morning and went home again, frustrated that there was no work.
I did eventually get a hold of my boss Thursday night at about 8:30. It turns out that he had been in the hospital all day because he passed out on Wednesday while he was working. The doctors couldn’t figure out why he passed out and now he is not allowed to drive for the next six months. As I talked with him, I expressed my concern and wanted the best for him and his health but in the back of my mind I knew there was a good chance that this all meant that I was out of a job. Again, I told my self that God was in control and that he would provide for me as He always does. Although, I was definitely having a little bit of trouble saying this now, especially seeing what happened to me Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday’s, as a lot of you know, I help out at the middle school with the 8th grade Youth Challenge class at Manchester/Essex. As I went to leave the school that afternoon I was behind an SUV at the end of the driveway. He started to pull out so I began to roll forward as I normally would. All of a sudden though the SUV hit their brakes and they began to back up. I quickly tried to throw my car in reverse but it didn’t work. The SUV backed into me crushing the right front of my car. I followed the guy out of the parking lot and pulled over in back of him so we could exchange insurance info. The accident then lead to a very frustrating afternoon of being on the phone with three different insurance companies for over an hour and now having to take my car to have the damages assessed on Friday.
Throughout the entire week my spirit was slowly being crushed and on Friday I wrote in my journal and told God that I was getting upset and annoyed. I wanted to yell at him and claim He had abandoned me. I asked God to give me faith and reminded myself that faith begins in knowing God is with me and not having the answers or explanations of why my week was the way it was. My eyes were really opened though when I got an e-mail from my Mom on Friday morning when I got to my office. Here is what the e-mail said:
I just had a chance this morning to read this message [from last Monday night]....Sounds like you are being tested to see if you really believed what you told the kids Monday night. I know you do, but when things start to go wrong that’s when our faith gets tested. I am praying things go well with the appraisal today and for your floor sanding job.
Love mom
As we grow in faith and in our belief of God we need to let that faith and belief be active in our lives. That is what God desires! Sometimes it is going to be hard! Sometimes we will act like Gideon and be afraid to live out our faith and only do things in the dark when others can’t see us. Other times we are going to want to yell at God and ask questions. Those things are all normal and happen to everyone as we grow in our relationship with God. The important thing is remembering that faith is not just a belief but that it is also an action that God asks us to live out. Faith begins when we acknowledge that God is with us and that faith continues when it becomes active in our lives.
