Look Not With Eyes, but Faith
- Michael Smith
- Aug 11, 2018
- 3 min read
Jesus,
Sometimes this life is hard. I know you and believe in you but things happen and I get distracted. I lose faith that. You can work through me. I loose faith that I can do wondrous things with your help, grace and power. Help me to stay focused on you, your righteousness and your love. Help me of little faith do your will and glorify your name in this world so that others may see your love and come home to you. In Jesus Christ's name I pray amen.
Habakkuk 1:12—2:4
Are you not from eternity, O LORD, my holy God, immortal? O LORD, you have marked him for judgment, O Rock, you have readied him punishment! Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil, and the sight of misery you cannot endure. Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself? You have made man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler. He brings them all up with his hook, he hauls them away with his net, He gathers them in his seine; and so he rejoices and exults. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his seine; for thanks to them his portion is generous, and his repast sumptuous. Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword to slay peoples without mercy? I will stand at my guard post, and station myself upon the rampart, And keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
It doesn't always make sense to me why people who don't believe in God succeed. Sometimes it's so daunting that I doubt my abilities and that I can work with God and be successful, but I read these lines and I find solace. I realize that God has a way that me as a small man cannot understand. My job is to sit at his feet, learn, love and do his will. It's that simple. I should trust in God, because he loves me and takes care of me always.
Matthew 17:14-20
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, "Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
As I read these lines things become even clearer. I have to work with God and through God by a strong faith in God. The devil is deceitful and wants to take away our faith so that we feel lost and come to his ways, but God is always there and always provides. I must have faith. I must constantly work to build my faith and make it strong by working with God's grace. I need to pray and to fast. I need to say, "NO" to things in my life so that I will be strong to say, "NO" to doubting in times when it really matters. It's all about training my mind, body and soul. Jesus believes in me and knows what we can do with his help, but we have to open our hearts and minds to it.
And that's al I got to say about that.
