Believers are called to believe in the living, active and victorious Lord. The One who lived, walked, taught, died, and rose to new life, conquering death to make a way for us to escape its grip and its ‘so forever’ penalty! It’s a simple ‘faith’ thing, so simple yet so complex, that we may tangle up its simplicity with our theology and head knowledge completely missing the soul mark and the fundamentals of it. It’s not a Social Gospel, It’s not about what we do and how much we do! It’s about our solid faith in our Saviour and what He’s done for us, not what we do for Him. Our works won’t cut it! But our faith in Jesus’ will.
The thing is, It’s not all that difficult, but it’s not just ‘simple’ either and we don’t have to understand it, we just have to accept it!
We’re called to enter into a faith that’s abstract and yet so very concrete and solid! Abstract, because we can’t see the one true God we worship, but solid because we see His creation, and we know that we know that we know, He’s present in our lives! Believers, without doubt, know that He has saved, renewed and transformed old life into new! We stand amazed in His presence when we stand before Him justified, cleansed, and forgiven in our moment of belief! That ~ beautiful one is a solid faith in a sovereign God! Old desires have passed and the new desire within our very being is to live to please Him. Oh yeah ~ That’s true saving faith; where divine grace meets us in the old mud puddles of yesterday and the same old, same old, that once got our attention and drew us into the sinking mire, dissipates before us, as we grow and mature in the faith! It’s called freedom and It’s a sweet life ~ no, it’s not easy; it’s not a bed of roses, and the way is difficult and long and heavy and broken at times ~ but it’s sweet and it’s abundant!
It’s not simple; it’s very complex to a hardened heart. Undeserved? Yeah, it’s undeserved, but we’re under grace and losers are winners in God’s economy. When He graces us with unconditional love, it’s a defining moment in our history, when the old is gone and the new has come.
We are so lavishly graced with such an awesome opportunity to repent and be freed of our bondage. Why do we linger on the fringes when now is the time of salvation?
“Behold now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
2 Corinthians 6:2.
So they did the obvious. They got into the boat at His command and set sail across the water without care! All was well with their world and yeah, they could simply trust in the ergonomics of natural laws, and that the boat would get them there especially when their Lord accompanied them. All was smooth sailing and all was good ~ until a vicious storm rose up out of nowhere threatening to take them under. They were with their Lord but suddenly their fears were bigger than He was and He didn’t seem to be enough for their moments of panic. They forgot His words of stability and promise of direction about crossing to the other side and when He fell asleep in the boat they felt He fell asleep on the job! He wasn’t disturbed, anxious, upset or even awake! He suddenly seemed to be just like them, without control over the situation and they lost all confidence and all hope in their Saviour and in their circumstances. Beautiful soul, if He’s given the command to Cross to the other side, or to climb the mountain, or walk the valley, you can know He’s either in the boat, waiting on the mountain or walking that valley with you. He’ll get you there when the storms rage, the mountains fall, and the valley gets deeper. No need for panic when He walks the way or sails the seas with us. Yeah, we can know, He really is in control even when it appears hopeless, broken and crumbled.
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
We gotta learn to trust Him even when we perceive He’s fallen asleep in the boat. Wake Him, ask for His help and let Him rebuke the wind and the waves as He speaks peace into the eye of your storm.
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 