Faith. We have it, we can always do with more of it, but we think we never have enough. We need faith for when we’re trying to understand or even believe in God, faith to encourage us and give us hope through our circumstances. We need faith that God is all we need to make it through this life. Our faith gets thin and then it can get boosted by our experiences. I’d love to see a graph of my faith levels as I go through life. I bet it would look rather erratic. We mostly deal with matters of the ‘heart’. These are the things we can’t feel or see and that is the kind of faith you’ll read about in 2 Corinthians 5:7. I recently read the 1st chapter of Luke’s gospel and it made me smile. Here’s an account of the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, and his encounter with the angle Gabriel in the temple, next to the altar of incense.
I’d love to see a graph of my life’s faith levels. I bet it would be so erratic!
He was a priest, was old Zechariah and his division was on duty and he was selected by a lottery system to be the one to light the incense in the temple. It was a big job, and all his friends were waiting outside, praying for him. It was just that he was in there for a very long time; long enough to get everyone worried. So now the angel Gabriel appears and tell him all about the son that he is going to have and since Zech and his wife, Elizabeth are really old, this is both a shock, and also the best bit of news yet. I’m sure that takes some faith but then he opens his mouth and says something that made me wonder how I would act if I were ever in that situation. ‘How can I be sure of this?’ I ask you! A heavenly being appears in the holy place in the temple of the Lord and shares life and history-altering news and all he can say is ‘Are you sure?!’ The response from the angel is a wake up call. Let me paraphrase from Luke 1:19: ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the very presence of the God of the universe. That’s what I do. And now when I tell you news from the lips of God Himself you ask me if it’s correct?! Seriously? For your blatant lack of faith in the face of this obvious bit of incredible truth, you will be struck dumb until your son John is born!’
Find peace in your struggles, and when faith runs thing, think of Zechariah.
So we lack faith in the unseen and it has been proved by Zechariah and many others before and after, that we lack faith in the face of the blatantly obvious. How do we get through this? I guess it’s like everything in our walk with God; we take it day by day. We let God deal with our unbelief in the gracious, loving way He does. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, bringing our sinful humanity into alignment with our rescued spirits. What else can we do but to walk daily in the Grace that has been extended to us, getting to know God better and ourselves too. Take heart that you can do this. You have what it takes to get through this life as a believer in Christ. Hold onto God, and let Him carry you through. Find peace in your struggles and when faith runs thin, think of old Zechariah’s story. His lack of faith was highlighted, but his destiny was never shifted. You can do it. Just have a little faith.