Keep faith despite trials
This year has certainly been a challenging one for us in dealing with the multiplicity of things happening in our world. Many of us are dealing with sicknesses and the loss of loved ones. Then, there are wars and rumors of wars. Furthermore, our country has had to deal with forest fires, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Robberies, shootings, and now homeland terrorism is on the rise as we have never seen before. It is only natural that people be concerned, feel anxious and oftentimes become depressed. Others feel helpless and hopeless, but I wish to encourage you today to keep the faith. Do not give up on God. He is omniscient and nothing can happen without His knowledge. And yes, He allows some things to happen, not because He does not love us, but the truth is: He allows some things to happen because we have turned away from Him. Could it be that the world, and yes America is beginning to reap what we have sown?
Yet, I repeat: Don’t give up on God because He has not given up on us. Could it be that He is getting our attention so that He can do some great things and make some great changes in our lives? And when things change, everybody will know it was God. At the end of the day is this not what life is about: seeing the hand of God blessing our lives and He getting the glory? Therefore, I encourage you today that no matter what challenges you are facing, keep the faith.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:1-3) Faith is believing to the extent of complete trust, reliance and confidence in God. Hope is looking forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial. In other words, whatever God has said in His word it will surely come to pass. We only have to wait on Him. His timing is not our timing. Faith and hope go together. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that he has promised to us in Christ.
Abraham and Sarah, Abel, Noah, Job and David are just a few of those of the Biblical Hall of Faith. They faced innumerable obstacles, but by faith, they were counted as righteous and were delivered to their high calling. Let us thank God for always giving us beauty for our brokenness, for helping us to overcome evil when the devil would wish us harm. What the devil means for our harm, God always turns it for our good. As Christians, we can proclaim the good news that God has captured us; yet, because He holds us in captivity, we are free. He did not create us to worry. He did not create us to fear, but he created us to worship Him and to glorify him by living the best life we possibly can, one day at a time.