Introduction
Last week I was taking Emily to school as I do each weekday morning. She often points out the things she sees and asks many questions. As we passed the rescue squad building on Broad Street in Gastonia an ambulance pulled out and she asked where they were going. Something occurred to me that I hadn’t really thought much about as we rode along. Emily is the only person in the world who thinks I know everything! After I dropped her off I began to think about other conversations we have had...and ones you have had with your children.
Emily will ask me as we watch a baseball game who everyone is. Not just the players, but the people in the stands. I tell her “I don’t know what their name is”. She always responds, “Yes you do!” So I make a name up.
Something becomes too difficult for her and she brings it to me and asks me to figure it out or fix it with the statement, “I can’t do it.” I tell her I can’t fix it or do anything about it and she responds the same way every time, “Yes you can!”
I could recount many other conversations but you get the picture. Emily thinks I know everything and everyone. She thinks that I can fix anything, lift all things, and move all things. She thinks I can help anybody, know the words to every song she learns at school and always have money for her to play with.
I realize that all of these notions will fade except for one...she will always think I have money for her to play with.
In short, Emily naively ascribes to me attributes of our Heavenly Father. He really does know everybody by name. He does have the answer for every problem, the strength for every weakness, the remedy for every malady, the resources for every shortfall.
Luke 18:17 quotes Jesus, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
Children are open and receptive. They are eager, willing, excited about opportunity and new relationship. Why can’t I be more like that? Why do we wander away from that? We’ll answer that in the end. Let’s look first at some Biblical characters that teach us what childlike faith looks like and the principles they rest upon.
1. Faith enough to Act
JAS 2:18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”
a. The children of Israel didn’t see the water part in front of them when Pharaoh’s army was behind them until they stepped into the water.
b. 2KI 4:1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
2KI 4:2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me,that do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
2KI 4:3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
2KI 4:5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
2KI 4:7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
c. Peter believed in Jesus enough to get out of the boat and walk on the water.
2. Faith enough to see beyond the circumstances
2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
a. Abraham believing he could become a father when he should’ve been a great-grandfather
b. Daniel spending the night with lions
c. Joshua in every battle he fought
3. Faith enough to believe God will forgive us no matter the past when we repent
MT 18:12 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
MT 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that `every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
a. When Emily gets a spanking she will still come back to us and believe she will get a hug.
b. Rahab hung the scarlet rope out her window.
c. The publican cried out, “Have mercy on me, a sinner”.
4. Faith enough to believe that victory is not measured in this life
a. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace
b. Paul, when he said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
c. Jesus, when he breathed His last on the cross with the words, “It is finished.”
Conclusion
Why don’t we believe in God with the same abandon as little children believe in their parents?
It is not because we have seen more of the world and its disturbing ways than little children. It’s because we forget the pathway.
Last summer we were listening to this song as our family traveled back from Indiana. “Take Your Burdens to the Lord”.
After it was over, Emily made her own variations to the song. She kept singing that one phrase, “Take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there.” But then she changed “burdens” to other things. She sang,
• “Take your car to the Lord and leave it there”.
• Take your house
• Take your truck
• Take your toys
I wonder if you have something you need to take back to the Lord to trust Him with? How do you do this?
1. Believe victory is ultimately measured in the next life
2. Repent of any known sin and believe God will love you
3. Look at God’s potential and not the potential problems
4. Act on what God says
