Unleashed: As You Go – Pray

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” Hebrews 11:1-3

Would your faith be made easier by having a Lord you could see?

Over the years the people of Israel had experienced a rhythm of revival and regression, domination and defeat. Finally, they had an answer for all their problems, we want a king! They had God but how much better it would have been if they had a flesh and blood king like all the neighboring nations.  Instead of listening to the Prophet Samuel’s warnings about what it would be like to live under a king, “the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (I Samuel 8:19-20)

“Yahweh alone was King over Israel, the prophets thundered: to be feared, to be loved, above all else to be obeyed. When the people decided they wanted a king of flesh and blood like all the other nations, Samuel warned them that the consequences would be tragic (1 Samuel 8:4-18), and history proved him correct in every particular. In the long run Israel as king and kingdom vanished from history altogether.” (Frederick Buechner)

Mark Buchanan tells the story of musician Ray Charles who went blind at age seven. “He lived his childhood in rural poverty, in a one-room shack at the edge of a sharecropper’s field. In the movie about him, in a scene from his childhood, he runs into his house and trips over a chair. He starts to wail for his mother. She stands at the stove, right in front of him, and instinctively reaches out to lift him. Then she stops. Backs up. Stands still. Watches.

Ray stops crying. He quiets. He listens. He hears, behind him, the water on the wood stove whistling to a boil. He hears, outside, the wind pass like a hand through cornstalks. He hears the thud of horse hooves on the road, the creak and clatter of the wagon they pull. Then he hears, in front of him, the thin faint scratch of a grasshopper walking the worn floorboards of his mama’s cottage. He inches over and, attentive now to every sigh and twitch, gathers the tiny insect in his hand. He holds it in his open palm. “I hear you, too, Mama,” he says. She weeps with pride and sorrow and wonder.” Charles later explains to someone, “I hear like you see.”

To “hear like you see” beautifully describes the faith that allows us to see beyond our physical realm of life. You may think “flesh and blood” answers will solve all the problems but they seldom do. Living a God-focused faith allows you to hear like others see. It allows you to enter deeper into the heart of God than any physical senses can ever take you. Living a God-focused faith allows us to see what others will never see.

Israel looked for their answers in a flesh and blood king but were quickly disappointed. Today we look for answers in “flesh and blood” solutions. If only this political party could be elected, they would solve all our nation’s problems. If only our elected officials would act boldly against neighboring countries. If only…. becomes the “flesh and blood king” that never can provide a future.

Would your faith be made easier by having a Lord you could see? Without a doubt. But the great thing is, we have that LORD.

He is called Jesus-Immanuel; God is with us. He is called “Our Father” who provides for us, forgives us and leads us.  He is called Jesus-the Good Shepherd. He is called Jesus-the Resurrection and the Life. He is our Advocate.

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” –Psalm 121

God is great,

Pastor Lynn