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Unwavering Faith
Aug 24, 02:48 PM
The age in which we live determines what are referred to as “facts” by an intellectual system of knowledge governed largely by rationalism and the scientific method. For the most part, we accept this system because it is the basis of our education and is the prevalent and largely unquestioned mindset of the day. Facts are facts, right? But there is another system of knowledge that is quite different from that which rules our day. It produces a different way of seeing life, determining reality, and making decisions.
To assert that there is a God, that God created the world, that life has a purpose, that human history is headed toward a goal, and that God has and will intervene in the affairs of life are not factual statements in the way the current age normally determines its truth. These assertions, however, are no less true. Abraham found himself faced with these two systems of knowledge. Which one would prevail in his own understanding and action?
The life of faith and the dominion of so-called facts, while often sharing the same space, in the end do not proceed in the same direction. Most of us stand in the realm of scientific rationalism and try to understand the life of faith. Abraham did just the opposite: he stood in the realm of faith and from that position understood life and made decisions on how he would proceed. Abraham’s reality was shaped by faith in a God who raises the dead and speaks of things that are not as though they are. He was not stupid; his faith was not mindless and patently absurd. He was well aware of what was going on around him. He was a man of significant wherewithal so we cannot write him off as some ancient, mindless bumpkin who doesn’t have a clue. He knew exactly what he was doing when he allowed faith to shape the basis of how he understood life and made decisions. His belief was not a choice among many of the world’s religions and philosophies. If you asked him why this belief and not some other one he would not have responded with an explanation of how his particular faith made sense to him or gave him inner peace. He followed the voice of the One who called him and made Himself known to Him again and again. He was not a man given to making important life decisions based on vain philosophies, myths and fables.
Faith was not a hobby or diversion for him. It formed the basis of his whole understanding of life. It is one thing to have faith; it is quite another to live by faith and to make life decisions on the basis of realities which remain unprovable from the standpoint of this age’s system of reason. Abraham built his life around the assertion that God was and is able to do what he promised. His faith did not weaken in the midst of the assault of life’s cold, hard facts. His faith actually got stronger as he gave glory to God. There were critical junctions in that journey just as there are critical junctures in ours. There are times when the facts strike the pillars of our faith like guided missiles. When these rockets find their mark, the entire building of our understanding of life is threatened with collapse.
The response of faith does not refuse to acknowledge the physical evidence before us. How that evidence is interpreted and understood is determined by the perspective from which we see life and determine what is true. None of the facts about Abraham’s seemingly hopeless situation are in dispute. The difference in Abraham’s perspective is that he saw all of life through the reality and goodness of God. That perspective not only changed his understanding, it shaped his response.