Have Faith In God – A Must For Pleasing Him

I respect people especially those older than me because I was taught to do so; but some I respect even more because they actually earned my respect so that whether older or much younger, I would have respected them anyway and my friend in this story is one of such persons. He earned my respect for his attitude and strength in the time he waited on God to make good His promise of a child to him and his wife. In that period when he waited we would sometimes talk about it and one day I broached the topic of the several medical options available and wondered why he won’t try any of them. In my opinion, God made them available, but he insisted that he won’t. I asked him why, certain that I knew what he would say and my argument was ready, but he surprised me. He, very calmly, explained to me, how God had promised that He would give them a child without medical assistance and in due time and that he preferred to wait on God for the manifestation of that word. He said to try any other method, would be tantamount to disbelieving God. He said it with such confident assurance that I knew he believed what he said and he believed it so much that he stood by it. For me, that topic was closed; I understood him well. He had chosen that path which a man has to choose for Himself – waiting on God‘s word as he believes he heard and it was in my best interest to let the matter die there and then which I did until the word eventually came to pass. God gave them a beautiful child according to His word and she arrived just when she should not be expected any longer but the word of God to Him did not fail; it prospered in the life of the couple long after it was sent.

 

Isaiah 55: 11 “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

 

Waiting on God is more than a “cliché”; it is what it is. It is that a man believes he has received a word from God and holding onto that word waits on God to bring it to pass doing nothing but what God says to do making no attempt to facilitate the manifestation of the answer. It is tough and even more so in the times that we are in when everyone wants to counsel even without your asking their opinion. Everyone seems to know what the other ought to be doing even without first seeking to know the mind of God concerning that other person. Meanwhile all one has against all the tremendous pressure is a word from God; a God that you don’t see and have never seen but you have elected to trust. It is tough when God hides a huge part of one’s life or some major occurrence in something seemingly small – His word. Meanwhile satan is busy throwing darts of doubt and fear so that one begins to wonder – how do I even know that I heard God initially or how do I know that God will still do it because whether He does it or not, He will still be God; it can get so bad that you sometimes want to question God’s existence but you don’t want to talk about it because no one must know that you have those questions so you struggle to put away the thoughts very quickly as you trudge on. It definitely cannot be easy and the longer the timing, the greater the risk of getting weary but God knows that so He makes fresh strength readily available to us. At some point it is almost like the voice you heard or the scripture through which you heard His voice begins to deem in your memory because everything seems so contrary. You know and believe but it is a struggle to put that word in that uppermost place in your mind where you would always see it and be reminded but you recall to mind the several victories He has won for you and then you are able to rejoice and strength is restored to go on. Such was the story of my friend and the word of God eventually came to pass.

 

Isaiah 40: 31 “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not faint.”

 

We indeed have to believe God. I realize now, more than ever before, that it is impossible to please God without faith.  It is not just scripture to me now but I can tell from experience. At the end of the day, without faith in God, we will do things that will definitely displease and dishonor God. You just have to trust Him otherwise you will give up on Him. He certainly does not work in the way that we know to work on this side of eternity. It is not unusual to want to faint but if you keep renewing your strength then you won’t die and you will carry the seed of the vision until it comes to maturity and then birth it. You have to know deep inside you that you will not survive in your own strength but the grace of God. I think a lot of the time, the scripture that says we will be tested more than we can handle is often misinterpreted. We often interpret it to mean we would not be tempted more than we think we can handle but the God that knows what He has put inside each person knows how far each person can go which is often more than the person thinks they can. So that sometimes we are indeed faced with tests that ordinarily seem too much for us to bear but that is how God brings “us out of us” – the real person He made begins to unfold and unravel. That which we always had buried inside of us is provoked to life. If one gives up before they come through then one may never discover what lies deep inside them and may indeed go through life without realizing their full potentials. Hence, faith is required to please God because in truth, it is easier to “curse God and die” like Job’s wife suggested to Him because the journey gets really tough but it is worthy of note that the same wife lived to enjoy the benefits that followed Job’s pain.  We must honor God; we have to trust Him. To do otherwise is to call Him a liar which He is not.