Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Walking by Faith

This morning my husband got a call from one of his best friends from college to tell us his dad had passed away in the early hours of the morning. And although it wasn't entirely unexpected (he has been battling Lou Gehrig's Disease) it was nevertheless a shock. All morning I have been trying to wrap my brain around the whole concept of mans plans and God's will, bad things happening to good people, God's sovereignty...you know, the whole nine yards.

To put it bluntly....I am never going to get it, the whole understanding God's mind part.

I'm not supposed to.

And I guess that is what I have been sensing God telling me throughout the day, that it's a faith thing. I keep thinking about the verse in 2 Cor. 5 that says, "We live by faith, not by sight." (NIV)

I mean the contrast between faith and sight is like night and day. If I made decisions on a daily basis based entirely on what I could see, I would probably never leave the house- it's a scary world out there. Or I might abandon my faith in God every time I saw bad things happen to good people, Godly people.

Contrast that with faith..."Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) Sure and certain are words of absolute confidence. That's what happens when my faith is anchored in God, completly convinced of who He is. It's the only thing that can keep me going in uncertain or questioning times.

In the end I guess I need to be ok with the fact that while on earth I may never get the answers to all the "why's". God is still who He is. What do I know for sure and have faith in? My God lives and my friend's dad is in heaven with Him tonight. For now, that's enough.

2 comments:

Pinkshoelady said...

Hi New Friend!

THanks so much for visiting me and the nice words of encouragement!

I will be praying for your friend and his family.

Karen Hossink said...

So true.
If we knew, if we understood it all, there would be no need for us to trust. We wouldn't be able to have faith.
But God allows us to know enough. We know He is good and we know we can trust Him. And that's what I rest on.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I look forward to getting to know you more.

Loving Jesus,
Karen