Faith: Through Trials

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb 11:1

Faith in its simplest form is Trust. To have faith is to trust in the action of something or someone outside of ourselves. Some of us have a hard time with this. We struggle with relinquishing control over any part of our lives. For us we say things like, “Our trust (or our faith) in others is weak.”

In today’s culture our idea of Faith is even more tainted when we mix in the modern movement of Prosperity (i.e. Health and Wealth). Because we’ve allowed ourselves to slip into a luke-warm pool of acceptance that Faith itself is a sort of mystical current we send out in waves to cause change. This is seen in self-help sermons and literature involving the power of positive thinking, karma, and the exercise of will-power which all teach us that with enough Faith, we can accomplish anything; the faithful will be healed, the faithful will have success, the faithful will prosper. All of which is a Godless faith that un-bashfully promotes ourselves in control over all of nature. This is a façade. This is a false hope in a time of true need. And when we who thought we had faith are not healed, do not become wealthy, or are unsuccessful, our faith dissolves even further. So even as Christians, when addressing Faith we must approach cautiously and first identify what the proper action and application of Faith is.

If I were to ask you as a Christian, “Do you trust in God?” It might seem a bit puzzling at first but we’d each probably answer, “Yes, of course.” So then I’d ask, “to do what?”

“What do you trust God to do?” or more correctly, “What do you trust in God to be?” Now, we are no longer discussing faith or trust as defined within our own earthly boundaries. We are properly addressing a biblical Faith. And for this we’ll need some biblical knowledge. We need to take time to learn who God is and what God promises. Then when confronted with the question, ‘Do you trust in God,’ you’ll have the knowledge in the identity of God to answer from.

We are directly called by scripture to, “Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” Prov 3:5-6 This is not a passive, acceptance of trust. This is an active scrapping off and stripping down the layers of a lifetime of disillusioned self-awareness. We must let go of the shrouds of self-righteous understanding we’ve dressed and hidden ourselves behind until we are once again naked as newborn children before God reciting like the psalmist David, “In you Lord I put my trust - You are my rock and my fortress – You are my strength – Into your hand I commit my spirit – You have redeemed me.” Ps.31 This act of trust is not self-sustaining either. We must dutifully remove our false impressions of the physical and spiritual world we live in and re-submit them as chaff to the fire of God daily. James describes this in 1:2(a) when he says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

When a storm of trials arises, your bearings can get a little shaken. You might have doubts about where your life is heading. You may even question God’s presence in your life. As James goes on to say in 1:6 “Like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” you’re sent crashing back and forth without going anywhere. Then suddenly the thin raft of your own understanding is blown with one lightning strike into pieces as another layer is stripped from you.

These “trials” are intentional acts permitted by God. Do not be surprised or discouraged. Peter, in his letter to early Christians bluntly wrote, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come to test you, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” 1Pet12

James then writes in 1:4, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Perhaps you’re still in that churning trial clinging to one last plank of self-indulged understanding as it finally splinters and sinks and you call out, “Lord! Save me!” And in that, the purpose of the storm is complete. Because its only when we are wiped out entirely with no trust in any of our own efforts but in God alone, will we feel the immediate hand of Christ as he catches us. 

This is the proper action and application of Faith. Not as you once believed that a life in Christ would protect us from trials but that the trials themselves would become tools in the hand of God for our growth and development into mature believers.

Therefore we should pray for God to strengthen our faith always being aware that we may actually be praying for a storm. Then as James instructs us, we can face our trials head on with hope, with expectancy, and even joy.