Faith to sit still.
I love the moments where I am in such wonder I have no words to describe God and His goodness. No thesaurus would ever be enough. There are no words great enough to describe His awesomeness and the magnitude of His sovereignty. He is unexplainable. He leaves me in speechless awe. All I want to do is gaze at His throne.
I have been on a faith journey all of my life. He’s been building, but it has been subtle. Last September, by His grace, real faith started to leak out, and within the past month He has made it explode. I say this so often, but daily life only gets better with God. Every quiet time I have I say, “This is the best quiet time I have ever had!” Well, today, until tomorrow I am going to say, “This is an unsurpassed quiet time!” Today’s quiet time I felt like was 2-fold: I learned more about the seriousness of a covenant, and I learned a different aspect of faith.
Today I was reading in Genesis 27, the account of Jacob receiving Esau’s blessing through trickery. I have read and heard Genesis 27 on numerous occasions, and I have always wondered why couldn’t Isaac just take it back since he had really given it under false conditions. But today I realized that the Hebrews understood blessing to mean much more than Gentiles did (do). I began to understand this through reading also in Joshua. Joshua had made a treaty of peace with the Gibeonites. But he had done so without coming before God first. Often when new situations arise we forget to seek God’s wisdom and guidance first. When we learn the lessons of the past and apply them to today we save ourselves a lot of trouble. But a covenant before God is not to be broken. So, they had given an oath by the Lord. Ancient devout Hebrews never used the name of God haphazardly. So, although in Joshua it was a treaty, and in Genesis it was a blessing, both used the name of the Lord for the binding of the agreement; therefore it could not be revoked.
Isaac could have begun fretting over what had happened, or He could just trust God. Isaac was commended for his faith. Hebrews 11:20 says, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to the future.” He trusted in God’s sovereignty. I know, probably daily, I mix my faith with fretting. But I believe God sees “fretting faith as faithless fretting.” I do not want to be faithless.
Another aspect of my quiet time included how Rebekah played a part in all of this. Before Esau and Jacob were ever born, the Lord spoke to Rebekah in Genesis 25 telling her that two nations were in her womb and that they would be divided; the older would serve the younger. But still when Rebekah heard Isaac speaking to Esau about his blessing, Rebekah interfered and told Jacob what to do to deceive his father. “Rebekah appeared to do exactly what we’re prone to do. She volunteered to help God accomplish His will or fulfill His own prophecy.” God surely dealt with Rebekah’s manipulation. “God’s sovereign plans for the future are based on the foreknown. When Isaac grew old and the time came to pass on the blessing, he chose to respect God’s name and sovereignty even though he had been deceived. Isaac knew God well enough to discern when more might be at work than met the eye.”
Often times in faith, we believe, thus we act. But today I learned what I believe to be the harder facet of faith: when faith requires us to do nothing at all, while our human nature screams to interfere. Therefore, we believe, so we do not act. We gain wisdom in knowing the difference between the two.
Jesus trusted in the sovereign plan of God—by not acting on various occasions. In Matthew 26, when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, Jesus had the power to act, but He did not because He knew God’s perfect will. And again in Matthew 27 Jesus had the power to act when He hung on the Cross. Insults and sarcasm were being hurled at Him. He had the power to get down from the Cross and He had the power to call on the name of the Father, yet He did not act. He trusted in God’s absolute plan for Him and for us.
Today has shown me even more my need for God’s wisdom and empowerment to trust, wait, sit still and to not act. It is a challenge we cannot accomplish on our own. While praying and reading I was reminded of Matthew 26:41, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Praise God we have His Spirit!
I have been on a faith journey all of my life. He’s been building, but it has been subtle. Last September, by His grace, real faith started to leak out, and within the past month He has made it explode. I say this so often, but daily life only gets better with God. Every quiet time I have I say, “This is the best quiet time I have ever had!” Well, today, until tomorrow I am going to say, “This is an unsurpassed quiet time!” Today’s quiet time I felt like was 2-fold: I learned more about the seriousness of a covenant, and I learned a different aspect of faith.
Today I was reading in Genesis 27, the account of Jacob receiving Esau’s blessing through trickery. I have read and heard Genesis 27 on numerous occasions, and I have always wondered why couldn’t Isaac just take it back since he had really given it under false conditions. But today I realized that the Hebrews understood blessing to mean much more than Gentiles did (do). I began to understand this through reading also in Joshua. Joshua had made a treaty of peace with the Gibeonites. But he had done so without coming before God first. Often when new situations arise we forget to seek God’s wisdom and guidance first. When we learn the lessons of the past and apply them to today we save ourselves a lot of trouble. But a covenant before God is not to be broken. So, they had given an oath by the Lord. Ancient devout Hebrews never used the name of God haphazardly. So, although in Joshua it was a treaty, and in Genesis it was a blessing, both used the name of the Lord for the binding of the agreement; therefore it could not be revoked.
Isaac could have begun fretting over what had happened, or He could just trust God. Isaac was commended for his faith. Hebrews 11:20 says, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to the future.” He trusted in God’s sovereignty. I know, probably daily, I mix my faith with fretting. But I believe God sees “fretting faith as faithless fretting.” I do not want to be faithless.
Another aspect of my quiet time included how Rebekah played a part in all of this. Before Esau and Jacob were ever born, the Lord spoke to Rebekah in Genesis 25 telling her that two nations were in her womb and that they would be divided; the older would serve the younger. But still when Rebekah heard Isaac speaking to Esau about his blessing, Rebekah interfered and told Jacob what to do to deceive his father. “Rebekah appeared to do exactly what we’re prone to do. She volunteered to help God accomplish His will or fulfill His own prophecy.” God surely dealt with Rebekah’s manipulation. “God’s sovereign plans for the future are based on the foreknown. When Isaac grew old and the time came to pass on the blessing, he chose to respect God’s name and sovereignty even though he had been deceived. Isaac knew God well enough to discern when more might be at work than met the eye.”
Often times in faith, we believe, thus we act. But today I learned what I believe to be the harder facet of faith: when faith requires us to do nothing at all, while our human nature screams to interfere. Therefore, we believe, so we do not act. We gain wisdom in knowing the difference between the two.
Jesus trusted in the sovereign plan of God—by not acting on various occasions. In Matthew 26, when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, Jesus had the power to act, but He did not because He knew God’s perfect will. And again in Matthew 27 Jesus had the power to act when He hung on the Cross. Insults and sarcasm were being hurled at Him. He had the power to get down from the Cross and He had the power to call on the name of the Father, yet He did not act. He trusted in God’s absolute plan for Him and for us.
Today has shown me even more my need for God’s wisdom and empowerment to trust, wait, sit still and to not act. It is a challenge we cannot accomplish on our own. While praying and reading I was reminded of Matthew 26:41, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Praise God we have His Spirit!
posted by Holly at 11:24 PM
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