‘It’s all about faith, stupid!’
RECAP of the four readings in the calendar for Sunday, February 25
Genesis 17:1–7; 15–16
God appears and presents the Father of Many Nations with a condition and a promise
Psalm 22: 23–31
From a background of anguish and apparent abandonment, the tone turns to praise and even revival
Mark 8:31–38
God’s great plan of redemption through Jesus is a stretch of faith for His disciples
Romans 4: 13–25
The deep roots of the Good News of salvation by faith in Jesus which ‘credits righteousness’
The emerging message
God’s desire is to reveal Himself, to make Himself known. But there’s a problem — God is Spirit, and in our unregenerate state we are not. Even when we have come to know God personally through turning to Jesus and inviting him to be our Lord, there is still a gulf to be bridged. That bridge is what we call faith. It is choosing to believe beyond what we see, what we know, what we understand, what is logical or feasible to us. To see with the “eyes of the heart”.
Abraham is the father of faith, not just to Jews, but to all who look to God in faith. God appeared to him on a number of occasions and made promises that didn’t stack up and didn’t happen — or so it seemed. Abraham hung in there. God had said it — that settled it. This was a 25-year test; Abraham believed, and kept on believing, and “it was credited to Him as righteousness”.
We face trials, and seek what God is saying — and we may hear clearly. And we hang on to that word and it seems to us that nothing happens. What was all that about? The way God grew Abraham through a test of faith, is the way He grows us.
David, in Psalm 22, writes (probably prophetically) about desperate anguish and pain and the questioning of where God is in that. Where we pick up the reading the tone changes to praise, based on God’s character, never mind what it feels like. And the result of that barefaced, impudent faith to praise God in the face of the enemy is a knock-on effect of people turning to God. We call it revival.
Jesus explains to His disciples, now that they have recognised that He is the Messiah, that God’s plan for mankind will be fulfilled in His capture, mock trial and torture to death. No one wants that — but this most difficult-to-grasp purpose has to be seen with eyes of faith.
We have tried to turn faith into religious practice, as the Jews did with their complicated system to achieve righteousness. Peter teaches us that it doesn’t work that way. Look back to Abraham, He says, and you can see that salvation by faith alone began with Him. We want something more complicated, something to work at rather than — simply believing.
Sometimes the straightforward way, looks way too simple — but the straightforward response of faith is what God desires from us more than anything else.
Originally published at The Living Word.
