One of the elements of saving faith is trust. Without a rich dose of it you’ll never be able to walk with the Lord. How much do you trust God? Do you trust as much as Abraham did when he raised the knife above Isaac his son? Do you trust as much as David did when he stood alone facing Goliath with nothing but a sling? Would you have trusted as much as the Lord Jesus did when he wept praying in the garden of betrayal?
Perhaps the greatest challenge of faith is putting to death one’s own will (Galatians 2:20). Jesus plainly said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). Faith requires trusting God even when things don’t make sense. If we only trust God when it’s what we would naturally have done anyway, what value is there to our faith? Is God truly God or do we want to be our own gods and goddesses? That was the issue at the heart of Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 3:1ff) and has been a vital struggle for all of us ever since.
Naaman is a great example (2Kings 5). He was a leper. He’d been told God would heal him through Elisha the prophet. He had the faith to seek out Elisha, but when Elisha told him to dip seven times in the Jordan he reacted with defiance: “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the LORD his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus… better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” (vv.11-12 NLT).
Well, why not? The prophet hadn’t done what Naaman thought he should do. How can I trust God if he doesn’t do what I think he should? Wrestle with that question, but consider the outcome of Naaman’s trust dilemma. His companions reasoned, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” (v.13). That was good common sense. He did it and was cured. So when God commands baptism (1Peter 3:21), what will you do? When God commands us not to quit attending church (Hebrews 10:24-25), what will you do? What if he tells you to renounce everything and follow him? Would that make sense? Do you trust him?
—JLP