Unless we go beyond a romanticized idea of God, our faith will wither with all its shallow roots at the least adversity or the next prosperity. Beyond God’s provision, our faith must first be built on His undeniable existence. Beyond God’s rewards and His response to our needs, our faith must be seeking Him.
Faith has been discussed in our age to mean how we can “force the hand of God” to do our will. But when I read the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I see a faith that does not resound from our pulpits so much anymore. I see a faith that a professor of the supposed faith movement would consider a weak confession. It’s not just the faith that God would deliver them, but that even if He chose not to, His people would not bow to an idol.
‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you on this point. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up!”’ (Daniel 3:16-18, AMP)
It’s faith, not as a sacred tool for personal aggrandizement but faith as an unwavering commitment to the Sovereign Lord in all circumstances, a forsaken trust in Him. It is faith, not as a currency for buying comfort in this life, but of a heart irredeemably cast upon God. It’s a faith that is not only confirmed by the amazing deliverance but also by the unflinching loyalty to God. It’s not so much a faith for things as it is a faith in God. It’s not an earnest expectation that cohabits somehow with cheap compromise.
When we preach the “God will do it” message without answering the “What if He chooses not to” question, we may be creating shallow utilitarian believers who can swing from the high of “my God has done it” to the shocking low that says “God does not exist.” Their faith lasts as long as their hopes can. Their faith is based on their experience. When they are satisfied, God is good. Prolonged famine and unanswered prayers starve their faith to death. Their loud Amen aims to force answers down. As the Amen fades, the “faith” finishes. “Prayer does not work”, “miracles are coincidences”, “if God answers prayer, why hasn’t He answered mine”, “even the wicked are prospering”, “there is no God anywhere”. It is possible to hear all these soon from the very person who is sharing the prayer link. You may hear it soon from the loudest prayer warrior. Even members of the clergy may be tricked by shallow faith.
Poor experiment of Christianity is a courtship with apostasy. Those who are baptized will be saved, but those who test the waters may drown. Unless our roots are deep, it’s only a matter of time. We are the atheists and skeptics of tomorrow if we continue in shallow faith. If we build on sentiments instead of the Word, the tempest will toss our estates away. What will anchor us through the changing scenes of life if we are believers who dislike doctrine? If we dislike doctrine, what is it that we believe?
Jesus promised that the storms will come and our foundations will be tested. Is your faith merely a magical impulse that all is well (a good feeling about the future), or your faith is an unshaken trust in the personal Sovereign God and a complete commitment to Him? The storms will remove the look-alikes. Are you truly founded on Christ or you only have a form of godliness? Is godliness your method for personal welfare or it’s your resolute worship to the personal God?
“So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish (stupid) man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great and complete was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27, AMP)
“Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].” (1 Corinthians 15:58, AMP)
What would you do if God said No to your topmost prayer request? Is God the constant or it’s your prayer request that must be answered? The three Hebrew men said, “even if He doesn’t, …we are not going to serve your gods”. Is God your first and best option, or He is the only way? What is your Plan B? Shadrach and his friends said, Plan A: God will deliver us, we won’t bow. Plan B: Even if He doesn’t deliver us, we won’t bow.
Today, our faith mostly have no room for the second instance. Our expectations are our gods and we have set them constantly before us. We serve a very predictable “god” who cannot say No to our best thoughts. We have him figured out like a machine or software. This level of assuredness leaves no room for an “even if”. Soon the realities of life expose our unrealistic idealizations. And when the stuck realities come, we are stuck. We hit a rock. We lack the doctrinal depth that can sustain us. We never imagined that God could decide not to deliver us. We only had faith for the good weather or the hopefully fair weather, not the testifiably poor conditions.
The Psalmist said, ”My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the rock and strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalms 73:26, AMP) But to say this, he first declared, “besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” Our flesh and hearts are bound to fail. Once a while, we may sink from the highs even to depressing lows. We may give up on ourselves many times. What holds us up or rather the One who holds us up is God. He is our life support when our system shuts down for lack of hope. When there is nothing to hold on to, when our philosophies and even our theologies fail, there is something beyond our faith, hope and knowledge. There is someone beyond and far above our prayers and declarations. He is God. He will hold us up and make us stand. He is the One who holds the broken together and sustains the life of a failed heart. The Psalmist says, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
If God was activated by our hearts, we would die when our hearts failed. If God existed only through our experiences, He would die when we don’t feel Him at work. Thankfully, God exists beyond our concept of His existence. He exists beyond our experience of His right hand. And even when everything fails within and around us, there is a God who is unaffected by the storms. He holds us up within Himself. Everything may scatter. Life may evaporate. But God is our portion forever.
The verses are set in a Psalm of Asaph where he contemplates his predicaments and compares his poor experiences despite living for God with the prosperity of the wicked. He is jealous and takes offense. He thinks it is useless to have continued in purity. His confusion continues, traumatizing in itself, until God gives Him clarity, a bigger and better perspective – “their end”. The mist is then cleared and he sees the wicked slip unto destruction. He confesses his ignorance and affirms his dependence on God. He declares that God is His only desire, his strength and rock although his flesh and heart fails. God is his portion forever. It is in this context that he begins the Psalm with these words: “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” Despite our seemingly contradicting experiences, truly, God is good. What is your understanding of God’s goodness?
In a generation where faith preachers blame Job’s predicament on his negative confessions and rebuke him for saying God gives and takes, saints must be blamed for every pain they feel. Each foot away from the distant river of his goodness swells up anger against this god. Anger in the very believing heart! So that when they finally reject “god”, they reject the romanticized idea of God. Because, people who trust the Sovereign God would know their votes do not count against Him. The three Hebrew men did not meddle in the mind of God or forbid His independence. They did not force His hand or usurp His sovereignty. He would remain God and they would remain His, whether He honoured their faith or not. It was not about how much faith would set them free. It was not just about whether God would set them free. It was about standing for God, wherever the verdict would fall.
Also, if God is simply our prayer-answering machine, what is His use after we have prospered? Such shallow relationship with God is equally needs-based. A poverty-motivated religion can be vanquished by prosperity and stagnation alike. But those who are grounded will say like Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Php. 4:13) They will praise Him on the mountain and in the valley. In riches or rugs, during feasts or famines, those rooted in Christ draw strength from Him. God’s love is better than life itself, and dying for His sake is as beautiful as living to His glory.
“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. ” (Psalms 63:3, AMP)
To live for God, we must choose death over blasphemy and idolatry. While we pray God to lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, this decision must be settled. Our God is able to deliver us. But even if He doesn’t, we will not bow. We stand with God, not for what we stand to gain but because it’s an honor to even suffer for His sake, if He so pleases.
“For this finds favor, if a person endures the sorrow of suffering unjustly because of an awareness of [the will of] God. For [as a believer] you have been called for this purpose, since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in His footsteps.” (1 Peter 2:19, 21, AMP)
The triumphs of faith relate to God’s provision, redemption, healing, raising of the dead and defeat of enemies. We thank God for such victories. We pray for many of such. But they are only a side of the story. Other times, faith triumphs by enduring torture, mockery, scourging, imprisonment, death, destitution, oppression, cruelty and wanderings; choosing them over compromise. This is the faith less preached, but it’s equally important and biblical. It is faith that’s not facilitated by bribery and lying in the name of God. It’s faith that’s married to integrity and devoid of fakery. It’s faith that’s guided by a love for God more than a love for coziness. This is the faith that builds character, not just mansions. May this faith return to the pulpits, so that we don’t set weaklings up for wreck.
“Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life; and others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging [amid torture], and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned [to death], they were sawn in two, they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith], they were put to death by the sword; they went about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11:35-38, AMP)
Pious D. Serwonu
April 6, 2024.