Hard-To-Find Faith
This weekend we enjoyed dinner at the Sullivan’s home. We lived near the Sullivan’s in Northern California and their daughter, Kelsey, was a part of our my small group there. Shortly after we moved to Orange County, they also moved and now live less than two miles from us! Now her younger sister, Caitlin, is in our new youth group and we are thankful to have them close again!
I was sharing with Christine (Kelsey’s mom) about our trip to Hume Lake. I almost didn’t go because my Explorer needs new tires and I wasn’t sure if it would be safe to take my old tires up 600 miles to the lake. I risked it and made it there and back. One of the roads was very windy, uphill and almost one lane. I was a little concerned and since I was not driving with the group of vans I checked my cell phone to make sure I could call Bobby if I had any trouble. But the screen said “no service.” It’s interesting how at this point in my trip my iPod connection to my stereo wouldn’t work anymore. So I drove up this windy hill, not sure if my car was going to get me to the top, in silence.
I think that the Lord had planned this because I spent that time talking to Him because I knew that He had to get me there. I started flipping through my 3×5 spiral of verses and as I mentioned a couple of entries back, I memorized some of them. One of them was Psalm 31:1–
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.”
Christine then reminded me of Matthew 8:5-13 where Jesus sees the Centurion’s faith and was astonished by it.
asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home
paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come
under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.
I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes.
I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him,
“I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west,
and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside,
into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus said to the centurion,
“Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”
And his servant was healed at that very hour.”
The centurion recognized and understood that Jesus had absolute authority and power. Even some who followed Jesus didn’t have such faith in Him. Jesus says that many will come from the east and the west–many Gentiles will take part in the His salvation, whereas some of the descendants of Abraham would never have such faith and therefore be cast out.
I was encouraged by the drive to and from Hume Lake because I saw that I sometimes have Thomas kind of faith, where I need to see it to believe it. Instead I want to have faith like the Centurion, that doesn’t have to know or see. We need to have this faith in Christ as Savior and Lord and also in the seemingly small things in our lives (like a car trip). All our faith must be in Him because He is the one who has absolute power and authority. Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29,
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I’ll get back to my thoughts on what girls need in my next blog…
August 29th, 2006
I know what you mean by “fully relying on the Lord” because He is the only one who can protect you. When I was driving up to WI from MO to see Jeremy (before we were married), it was early December and it began snowing rather heavily. I was on the highway and could barely see anything… and it was worst behind the big trucks because they had streams of snowy gunk raining in your face. I (in my car) fell into the ditches between the highway three times during that trip. When trying to get out of the ditches, it was extremely dangerous because I couldn’t see any traffic that was bearing down on me. My first fear, during that trip, was that I wouldn’t be able to get my car out of the ditch… and my second fear was being able to get my car out of the ditch, but causing an accident in the process. I very narrowly missed a car on one of my exits from the ditch, but I knew God was guiding my car every step of the way. Talk about fervently praying! I never thought it could be so exhausting.
August 29th, 2006
Sis!
Great post. When you talked about how we can’t rely on things, you reminded me of Psalm 146. The person who puts their trust in horses (or cars) will be disappointed, but happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help!
Glad you all are back safe.