Probably one of the biggest obstacles to building a house (our life) is the barrier of a lack of trust. I think we have taken on some strange ways of looking at God's power and His capability to move. In this type of reasoning God becomes less powerful and more human. I don't adhere to this new "movement" and believe there are holes in it. I believe God is really powerful after all. A lack of trust by us is the problem.
Here are some definitions of the noun form of the word trust. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person or a thing. Confident expectation of something; hope. Once again, it all comes back to "how much do you trust God." Believing God can do what He says is a very liberating thing for a believer and when we learn to TRUST God in everything it causes our life to change at the very core. Let me illustrate what I am saying. When you realized your need for salvation, God said to turn to Him, repent, and receive Jesus and your new life in Christ began immediately. That initial step of faith put your life as a believer in motion and then you continued a life of trusting God. Then came human reasoning. You knew the part where you read a scripture that is clear about how God can move in a situation and yet you found yourself trying to minimize how powerful God is by putting your spin on His Word. You said, "Under certain circumstances that may or may not be what God was meaning, so I don't think He literally meant what is said. "Woah! Who just became god? I was listening to a preacher from one of the largest churches in America talking about trust. He made the statement that we shouldn't expect God to move immediately in a situation because He has to put everything in place. When that move is made a lot of things are affected. He even went on to say, "Give God a break! Some things take time." I agreed with what He was saying until I realized that I was trying to figure out God with human reasoning. and it just can't be done. He is God!!! So are you trying to tell me that my salvation had a time sensitive delayed effect? When I prayed to receive Jesus, God had to work some things out. Then after say, two weeks everything was completed and eternal life started then? I guess that blows the belief that every moment of every day is vital to all of us. NOT!!! Ephesians 5:16 says, "Be redeeming the time because the days are evil." Time belongs to God!! And God doesn't need any help or explanations from us to be God. I really believe we all have angels that are guarding us. But what if one of the angels representing God got a little busy right as I was about to fall asleep and run in a ditch. Instead of waking me up, I just ran in the ditch and got killed. So now not only is God's power minimized, but He also gets distracted because He is so busy.....Can you see where this reasoning is going? Before long we could make God no more than what our human reasoning can understand. That is not trust. To really grow in our faith and continue to see God build our house we need to learn to trust, rely, and have confidence in the God who made the heavens and the earth. We also need to believe that He hears the heartfelt cries of His children. The disciples had the same issue all mankind seems to have when it comes to trusting God. During a time when they were fearful and feeling doubt in John14:1 Jesus said, "do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." There is no doubt God can be trusted. The doubt comes from our perception. Can we trust God? You need to answer that question before you go any further in building your house. Without true faith you minimize who God is in your life and the rest of your reasoning is flawed because of faithless faith.
I love the movie Holes. In that movie a young man had fallen in love with a single lady who was a teacher at a school in their community. In his desire to let her know his feelings he would offer to do work around the school so he could be near her. She would ask if he could fix this, and that, and his answer was always "I can do that." Every time she asked him to do something he responded in the affirmative because he loved her. When we learn to trust God, really trust God for who He is, we will learn to bring everything to Him and ask Him to move. God's Word says his reply will be, "I can do that." In our human reasoning we will try to reason that God gets tired of us asking, but here is the HOLE in that theory. God really is as powerful as He says and He can handle it and handle it well. In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." He doesn't say, "let me get back to you on that!" That is the deal breaker. He is listening and ready to hear our prayers at all times. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 5:16, "pray without ceasing in all circumstances." Why would I do that? Because I trust Him. That's why we should learn to spend time with him throughout the day...every day. Putting our trust in God is the best and first move. He will hear. He will respond. He can handle anything we bring before Him. He is almighty God!!! He really is powerful after all. But of course, you already knew that didn't you? Don't let the current movement to bring God to our level fool you. I want God to hear me at my level and respond from His level. There are no holes in his ability to respond quickly to our cries. Maybe over time we have become SELF RELIANT, and that has caused us to be less God reliant. May it never be so....
James 1:5-8 gives us a good answer to all of this. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will given to him. But when He asks He must believe and not doubt." Answers are readily available. There are no holes in God's answers.
The Pilgrimage continues....
David Warren
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