Trusting God

One of the greatest agonies of my spiritual walk is figuring out whether or not something is from God.  It’s remarkable how often a hunch can be misinterpreted as the Holy Spirit and vice versa.  Confirmation is a helpful tool for discernment, but it is by no means a fail-safe.  I have often kept asking for “just one more sign” until I’ve finally missed my opportunity.  While I grant that it’s safer to not say something that was from God than it is to say something as if it’s from God but isn’t; there’s nothing quite like realizing that it really was God and you’ve missed your chance to minister to someone in need.

It’s at times like these that I wonder why God doesn’t just take over my mind or at least make things patently obvious.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed for God to speak to me in more than just hints and whispers.  The fear of man and the fear of failure are formidable enemies and I must confess that I have yet to master them.  I’ve gotten better, but there’s much that I lack in terms of trust and confidence.

Fortunately, God knows my struggle and tonight He decided to give me a little clue to help me along.  It came as I was reading through some of the Davidic Psalms.  When I read Psalm 32, verses 9-10 really jumped out at me.  “Do not be like an unintelligent horse or mule, which will not obey you unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit.  An evil person suffers much pain, but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him” (NET).  Of course, this came right after I was complaining to God about not being clear enough.  I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.  It’s not often God pretty much tells you “Don’t be stupid” (in a loving way, of course).

God does not want to put bridles in our mouths and force us to do things for Him.  He chose to work through free agents (sorry, Calvinists) and He’s not going to change His mind.  He’s big enough to fix us when we stray and the church is a safe place to receive correction.  I am blessed to have many people around me who are willing to correct me and provide guidance when I’m a little off.

More often than not, it will be after I have stepped out in faith that I find out it was really God.  That’s what that last statement is saying.  If we are willing to step out in faith and trust God, He will be faithful.  It may be that He gave you something to tell someone else and He will be faithful to make sure that you have the opportunity to share it.  It may be that there is no word and you made a mistake.  In such cases, God will be faithful to provide correction.  Of course, you have to receive and respond to that correction, making sure to do better next time.  After that, God will still prove His faithfulness by providing another opportunity to do better.

Whatever you find yourself doing, whether or not it’s “spiritual”, whether or not it’s clearly from God, trust in Him.  He will be faithful.  The most encouraging part of this passage is that His faithfulness is not equivalent to you trust in Him.  It is an excessive form of faithfulness.  It is a literal surround or enveloping kind of faithful, such that every part of you is covered by his faithfulness.  Likewise, His faithfulness is not just about holding up His end of the deal, but is also a demonstration of His goodness and kindness to us.  All we have to do is trust Him and He will be faithful.

Salvation Not By Talk

“Besides, to tell you the truth, I’ve heard of you: that you’re a man whose religion lies in talk and that your lifestyle makes the confession of your mouth a lie.”

The accused is a man by the name of Talkative (go figure); his accuser is Christian’s companion Faithful who was warned by him of what sort of person Talkative really was.  It was a good thing too, for in the beginning Faithful was quite taken by Talkative’s skill in speech.  Happy for a new found companion and keen on “discussing profitable things,” Faithful quickly fell into conversation with Talkative.  He would probably have done so for some time and possibly been led astray had he not conferred with Christian about their new companion.

Sadly, Talkative did not turn out to be as good of a companion as Faithful had hoped.  They ended up parting ways after some rather hot discussions in which Faithful pointed out where Talkative was wrong so far as his religion was concerned.  Talkative would not be convinced however, as Christian later stated, “He would rather leave your company than reform his life.”  He could talk the talk, but his walk was an entirely different matter; as the old saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”

The thing that comes to mind when I think about Talkative comes from the book of James.  James writes what is probably one of the harshest passages on the use of the tongue.  “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison… out of the same mouth come praise and cursing… etc” (James 3:6, 8, 10a).  Just prior to this passage, James spoke of works as being a product of our faith (2:14-26).  Now take these passages and apply them to Talkative.  Something is clearly wrong here; I do believe he got it backwards!  Our faith is not evidenced by talk, and Faithful learned this by way of Talkative.

A second thing I will note comes from a couple verses referenced in the notes regarding Christian and Faithful’s conversation after Talkative left.  The first is 2 Thessalonians 3:6, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.”  The numerous warnings throughout scripture about straying from the faith should be enough to indicate why Paul would write what he did.  Christian and Faithful were indeed glad of Talkative’s departure; for, as Christian rightly said, “He would’ve been a blotch in our fellowship.”

The second verse I will mention is 1 Timothy 6:3-5, “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”  Controversies and quarrels certainly come to mind when reviewing the conversation between Faithful and Talkative.  The latter was so used to talking about he thought he knew that he was rather distressed to find a differing opinion.  In fact, when looking back over the conversation, I noticed a great deal of biblical references on the part of Faithful, but Talkative provided none.  I think it’s safe to say that realizing he was sure to lose, Talkative made a swift exit to preserve a way of life he thought better.