Why Faith
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Introduction
Our Scripture passage this morning tells us to trust in God above all else. In the same way, the Bible reminds us over and again that salvation itself is received by faith (that is it is received by believing God and turning to Him). So this morning our question is, why?
Why is God so insistent on belief as a key aspect of salvation? Why is faith in that which is unseen so necessity? Why does God not just disclose himself to man in His full Glory, say here I am, and be done with it?
Is the need for faith simply a cat and mouse game or is there more to it than that, something that points to a deep and primordial truth about life?
A] First, faith exceeds our usual man-based requirements for examination, assessment, and satisfaction. In other words, faith comes to us on terms that are not our own. With faith, man is not the highest authority or final word.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.
Simply put, faith reminds man that his assessments and understanding are limited and thus not the deciding factor in any truth (religious or otherwise).
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
B] Notice the result: faith in essence reverses the procedure of the fall. Remember, in the Garden man was called not to eat of the one tree. He was given no explanation or reason. Instead, his obedience was to be based solely on his recognition of and trust in God.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”
However, instead of heeding God’s command, man made his own experience and reason the measure of life. As such, man looked, assessed, and decided to eat on the basis of his own judgment not God’s instruction.
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
Simply put, man’s reason no longer worked in concert with and submission to God. Instead, man rejected God and replaced Him with self.
Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
C] Notice then the contrast: with faith the mode of operation at work in the fall is reversed and man’s ultimate basis is returned to its proper place, which is God. As such, man, regenerated by grace, and a new creature, is asked once again to believe God, to trust Him, and to take Him at His word even though man will not always have his criteria of understanding fully met. Man is to believe God as God and to defer to God in trust.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
The point here is that faith’s first concern is not to meet and satisfy man’s criteria of understanding (God does not run things by you first). Instead, at its heart, faith identifies man’s first obligation as deference to and trust in God FN#1.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
D] Importance: at once we see something of the organic nature of grace: Grace really changes us. As such, during this life we really experience a fundamental reversal of course from sight to faith. It is often arduous, painful, and frustrating. Nonetheless, grace is altering our orientation to all of life and our basic manner of operation. Consider John 21:17
John 21:17 Jesus said to Peter the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved and said to Jesus, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.
Remember, earlier, Peter had denied Jesus 3 times (out of fear for his own safety). Now Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him……..Peter says you know I do Lord. Notice then grace is literally reversing Peter’s course and leading him back up the road he had just traveled down.
In the same way, Scripture’s focus on faith and belief, of trusting God even when we do not see or fully understand, is in fact the reversal of the Garden where man trusted himself, his own reason, and his sight more than God.
Bottom line: so why faith? There seems something very organic and hands on about the healing that grace and faith bring. God does not just whisk us out of the cellar down into which we have wandered. Rather, He leads us as we retrace our steps back out of the mess we have made, cleansing us and teaching us by grace guided experience the principles of Kingdom life that we should have never lost/abandoned.
Simply put, faith is not a divine cat and mouse. Instead, it is a grace given restoration to the fundamental relationship between Creator and creature that is definitive of all life.
Footnotes
1] Importance it is vital to note that belief is never irrational or blind faith. Rather, at every point belief is based on God’s prior revelation of Himself, His character, and His will. Thus, man’s faith is always a response to God’s preceding concrete revelation.
Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, In order that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He.
Deuteronomy 4:10 Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth,
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true,
Notice then, in Scripture faithful reason is learning to think God’s thoughts after Him (to reason with Him). That is, faithful reason thinks through an issue based on God’s Word, God’s will, and God’s objectives
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD,
In fact when Scripture tells us
2 Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight
it does not means that we have turned off our minds. Instead, it means that our reason and decisions are based on (have their starting point in and their chief allegiance to) God’s Word, not our own limited assessments or understanding.