Faith is such an integral part of our walk with God, without it, we can’t please Him, Faith is how we operate in the kingdom and alter our own selves to conform to Him. A measure of this gift was given to all men is what the Bible tells us in Romans 12:3. We must use and develop this gift diligently and wisely. We can and do put faith in many things in our lives, our friends, our possessions (like our car), our loved ones, our ideas and beliefs. Faith is integral to who we are as spiritual beings. That being said, just like anything else that involves us as humans, faith is subject to failure. This is not to say that the gift God has given us is somehow flawed, but rather, we undermine the gift and collapse it ourselves.
This is fairly common among both believers and unbelievers. It just involves different situations and circumstances. For the unbeliever, they could have firmly had faith in the ‘faithfulness’ of their spouse in terms of their relationship until one day one of their friends tell them they saw their husband or wife with another person of the opposite sex and their partner didn’t know. This crumbles the foundation of their faith, and eventually can lead to collapse if thought and pursuit continues down that road.
Likewise with the believer, we can be standing for something according to the promise of God and be resolute and firm, in the beginning. Then a friend comes along and provides an anecdote to the contrary of what the Word says and suddenly, the foundation can begin to crumble. Now, notice, the faith isn’t the thing that is failing, faith still works in both situations, it is the conviction behind the faith that begins to waiver.
I want you to notice something – I did it on purpose – what is included in both of those scenarios? Someone else, giving input into the situation. A friend, a confidant. Now, there isn’t much help for the unsaved as when it comes to people, there isn’t any surety, because we are prone to failure. However, on the part of the believer, our faith in God and the Word should be steadfast because they cannot fail and they do not lie.
In Isaiah 50:7 it expresses the sentiment we should all hold once we know the will of God. We should set our face like flint, or stone, and determine to do His will. Knowing His will is an important step because knowing this with finality lends to us the ability to stand firm because once God has said a thing, it is set, unmoving, unchanging. Now, what comes in to play at this point is our exposure to other people. The verse in Isaiah gives no room to consider the words of men however, we do this regularly. Our reasoning can be all over the place but, at the end, it boils down to that we have trouble trusting God over people that we know. What does that seem to suggest? That we don’t know God as well as we should.
Once we know the will of God in any situation, we can stand firm know that He will not fail us and we will not be put to shame.
