The Hardest Part Of Faith

I flirted with jogging for several years when I was in my twenties but was never consistent about it. Even though I wanted to be faithful, something always got in the way. I started jogging seriously in 1974 when we moved from Dallas, Texas, to Chatsworth, California, the Los Angeles area where I had taken the position of Executive Vice President of an international missions organization. I learned to love to run in the late afternoon after a full day in the office.

I normally got to the office about 7 a.m. and tried to get home around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. Whether I was home, on the road, or even in a foreign country, being outside and jogging for 30 or 40 minutes was something I looked forward to. The exercise and fresh air helped me relax and clear my head from a day full of meetings or just old-fashioned busyness!

Jogging doesn’t require a lot of equipment. A good pair of running shoes, socks, shorts and a T-shirt and I was ready. Oh, yes, there was one other piece of equipment: my trusty $15 Timex sports watch. I loved that little watch because they had named it Ironman and when I put that watch on, that was me; in fact, I still have it!

At home, I liked to run a predetermined route and I always had several paths of different lengths that I could follow, depending on how I felt. I would warm up and start jogging, and then choose which route I would take: the two-mile route, the three-mile, etc.

As I was finishing my run, a strange discussion would take place in my head. Up ahead I would see the invisible finish line that meant I had completely run my path. My mind would start cajoling me with little statements like, “There’s the finish line; you can stop running now and walk the rest of the way.” Or, “You’re getting too old for this (I was thirty!); your heart is pounding, you’re sweating, your legs are tired. You can quit now; you don’t have to run the last 200 or 300 yards!” Or, “There’s nobody around. Who will know if you quit now? What difference does it make?” Almost every day during the last few minutes, the last half mile was always the hardest to run. I ran consistently for nearly 25 years and, true to form, my mind never gave up trying to convince me to quit early, to slow down just before I got to the finish line.

When Paul was writing to Timothy, his son in the gospel, in 2 Timothy 4:7, he says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Paul knew that his life was nearly complete as he penned these words to this young man he loved so much. I think one of the things very much on his mind was the satisfaction that he did not quit short of the goal. He didn’t stop running the race a half mile early because there was no one to witness his going across the finish line, or because of the intensity of the persecution. Paul was setting a standard for Timothy and others to follow.

I am indebted to David Wilkerson for a very brief chapter he wrote nearly 50 years ago in a little devotional-style book entitled I’M NOT MAD AT GOD. In a chapter entitled “The Faith of Giants,” David wrote, “Can a man still speak the language of faith when all his leadings ‘blow up’ in his face? The giants of faith did! Men of faith faced the most fiery trials. God has peculiar ways of developing faith, and the deeper in God you go, the more peculiar will be your testing. Do not think that afflictions are necessarily proof that you are displeasing Him! Miracles are produced only amidst impossibilities. The most critical part of faith is the last half hour.”

God wants us to finish the race well. No one said it is going to get any easier. With the Apostle, I want to be able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

The hardest part of faith is the last half mile!

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you might receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:36, ESV).

COMFORT FOOD

I have to confess that I like comfort food! When life is treating me harshly, I counter the attack by raising up a barrier of comfort food. I have discovered a defensive shield that can only be found in a good cup of coffee and several oatmeal raisin cookies. This simple pleasure seems to blunt the sharp edge of the attack and has a calming effect on me—in fact, my whole outlook on life improves.

To my great delight I found that the Bible talks rather favorably about comfort food.

“Now, Dave, don’t stray too far from orthodoxy,” some will say.

Well, unbeliever, let me prove the point to you. In Genesis 18, three angels from the Lord appear to Abraham and Sarah. Abraham, ever the gracious host, rushes to the angels and extends an invitation of hospitality to them, saying, “And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh [comfort/strengthen] your hearts” (Genesis 18:5).

So there you have it! Comfort food is validated by no less than Abraham—and witnessed to by three angels! So, why are we talking about comfort food? Because there are times when we all need comfort, to be refreshed. And, frankly, I am delighted to know that the Bible has a lot to say about comfort, because I seem to need it frequently.

Here are two passages of Scripture that speak of the ministry of comfort available to us through His Word.

“Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). The rod represents the Word and the staff represents the Holy Spirit. Both the Word and the Holy Spirit continue to be agents of comfort to us.

“That we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Another day I will write about the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (paraklete), and one additional agent of comfort the Lord has provided for us, but today let’s think just about the comfort that the Word of God brings.

Do you have any favorite passages that encourage and minister to you each time you read them? Do you visit those passages over and over? When troubles rise up and it seems difficult to get into your regular pattern of Bible reading, do you find yourself drawn to passages that ring with familiarity?

When you begin to move toward those familiar passages, do you ever hear an accusatory voice saying, “Don’t do that, you’ve read that a hundred times. You don’t need to do that again.” That is not the voice of the Lord nor is it your own spirit talking. What you are hearing is the voice of the enemy attempting to short-circuit you. Our enemy does not want you to receive God’s comfort; he wants to keep you away from God’s provision so he lies and accuses. The enemy wants you miserable and uncomfortable so he can trick you into a mistake. Stick your finger in the enemy’s eye by going straight to the passage and letting God’s Word minister comfort and strength to you!

I have a number of passages that I go to when the heat is on. Early in my life I was deeply ministered to by Psalm 34 (especially verses 4-7) and I have gone there dozens of times over the years.

Jeremiah chapter one is the passage I was reading when God called me into His service and I have returned to drink at that well more times than I can count. I have a special affinity for both of Paul’s letters to Timothy and have read, studied and preached from both of the books over and over.

Recently I have spent a lot of time in Psalm 37 and have received great encouragement from this chapter. There are other “comfort stations” for me in the Scriptures such as Psalm 23, Psalm 91 and the first chapter of Joshua. All the passages I have referred to, and their application to me, are what I believe Paul was referring to in Romans 15:4 when he spoke of the “comfort of the Scriptures.”

While the focus of this short devotional has been on comfort, I think it fitting that we end with the understanding of why Paul penned this word in Romans 15:4:

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (King James Version).

The patience (endurance) and comfort that come to us through Scripture is that we might have hope. In a previous article I wrote at length about the biblical meaning of hope. Briefly stated, the Bible word hope has been defined as “the confident expectation that as God has worked for His people in the past, so He will again, for me!”

So that we “might have hope”!

BLESSED IS THE MAN

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” (Psalm 1:1, ESV).

  

I love the Psalms and Psalm 1 is one that I read often and find comforting and meaningful.

I believe the intent of the first verse is to convey the understanding that God’s blessing is on the person who sincerely desires to follow the Lord in all areas of his/her life. It is easy to get caught up in the meaning of “sit,” “stand,” or “walk” and miss the overriding statement about the blessing of God on the life of the committed follower.

Verse 2 - “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Verse two tells us from where the “blessed” person derives his strength and purpose; he finds them by continually feeding on God’s Word. I think we misunderstand the second part of the verse if we read it to mean that we have to be constantly thinking about and reading scripture. Meditation as referred to in scripture is often meant to be a reminder to frequently go back and feed on a particular verse or passage.

Verse 3 - “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

Verse three shows us the result of person who is honestly trying to follow the Lord and values God’s Word enough to immerse (soak) himself in it. This kind of person, scripture says, has put down roots. When a tree has deep roots, it doesn’t matter all that much what is going on above the surface of the ground — there could be drought, famine, plagues, Democrats, rain, hail, snow, earthquakes — it really doesn’t matter because his roots are deep and they keep him anchored, nourished and standing when all hell is breaking loose.

Don’t get lost in the meaning of the word prosper; it is very culturally western to immediately think of financial success. I am not trying to diminish that but instead to bring a balance. The prosperity that the Psalmist is speaking of has to do with continued growth, advancement and success in life.

Verses 4-5 - “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”

Verses four and five are contrast verses. They contrast the life of the “blessed” person with the life of one who is simply pursuing life for all he can get out of it with no thought of God and His plan for his life. The Bible says these are the wicked.

Verse 6 - “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

“The Lord knows the way of the righteous.” The Hebrew word that is used here for “knows” is the word YADA. The meaning of this word is very rich . . . it is trying to convey the level of intimacy of a husband and wife relationship from which new life is conceived. To put this in practical terms, this verse means that God is not distant from us but is intimately aware of and interested in every aspect of the journey of your life.

“The way” is the whole journey of our lives . . . from start to finish. Psalm 139:13-16 teaches us that God puts together the strands of our lives like a weaver choosing variously colored threads to bring to life a multi-colored tapestry. God is vitally interested in every aspect of our journey.

“The righteous” means us. There is nothing you and I can do in our selves to be righteous but we must accept Christ’s work on our behalf and because we have done that, God says that we are then made righteous. God doesn’t do it because of us, He does it out of mercy (grace).

Jeremiah 17:7-8 is a message very similar to what is being conveyed in Psalm 1. It reads:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

“Whose trust is the Lord”

Trust is the outgrowth of a relationship. Young children trust their fathers because they are the recipients of his love and care. This passage is all about our relationship with God and the fruitfulness that comes because we willingly draw close to Him. The closer we draw to Him, the more fruitful our lives become. As we grow in “trusting the Lord,” we are likened to a tree that “does not cease to bear fruit.”

FACING OUR FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

“Do not be afraid (terrified), nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The word of the Lord to Joshua, just as he was about to step out into the plan of God for him, was “do not be frightened (afraid or terrified).”

Fear can sometimes have a paralyzing effect. What we don’t know or can’t see will sometimes cause us to stop or pause our forward movement and the Lord was speaking to that.

To be dismayed means that we have allowed fear to terrify us and break us down, causing us to become confused and ineffective.

Fear sometimes gets a bad name. There is good and bad fear. Some Christians believe that if you are really “in the Spirit” or really “exercising faith,” you will never experience fear but that’s not totally right.

We are instructed in Scripture to “fear the Lord,” which means to “be in awe” of Him, to be “reverent.” And that’s good fear. I believe we don’t have enough reverence in the church right now; in fact, church services have become so casual that it’s almost embarrassing at times.

Another good fear is one that I possess: I don’t particularly like climbing up on high ladders or standing on the edge of a roof.

For years I had an inordinate fear of the devil. I feared that he could come and take me over at any moment and there was nothing I could do about it. It was an irrational fear but real, nonetheless.

When I was young, a very famous healing evangelist came to our church. During the healing service, a woman went on the platform and the evangelist announced to the crowd that she was possessed by a demon. He then told us that he was going to cast the demon out of her and informed us that if we were not in the right spiritual attitude, the demon would go out of her and into us. Sure enough, as soon as he prayed for the woman, a person in the balcony began screaming and the evangelist and the pastor hurried into the crowd and prayed for him.

In my young mind, two things were happening. The first was that I had no clue as to what the right spiritual attitude was. The second was that I saw God and the devil in a wrestling match and some days God won and some days the devil won. My fear was compounded by the ignorance of the evangelist who did not properly handle this prayer of deliverance. From then on, I had an unfounded fear that at any moment the devil could take advantage of me just as he did that innocent person sitting in the balcony of the church.

It was not until later in life that I was able to understand the truth that the devil and God are not on the same footing. The devil is not sovereign; he is not everywhere; he is not all-powerful; and he is not knowledgeable about all things. The devil is a liar and a deceiver; he is a master of manipulation and trickery — and the devil is not God! When this truth settled in my spirit, my fear went away and has never returned.

Much of our concern and fear of the future comes because of what we don’t know. God’s commitment is to walk with us into our future. He will be our guide and our companion! We are instructed to hold fast to Him as we step into the unknown!

God’s promise to us is, “I (God, the sovereign creator of the universe) will be with you at all times; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This is an important truth to embrace and it is stated emphatically in Joshua 1 verse 5, and again in verse 9.

The Psalmist David understood this truth and captures its meaning for us in Psalm 23:4:

“Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.” (NLT)

We step into our future with confidence, knowing that God is with us. We hold fast to the One who knows exactly where we are going and how to get there!

Jesus repeated this powerful promise to His disciples just before His ascension when He said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

As we face the uncertainty of tomorrow in a chaotic world, our tomorrow may be unknown to us but it is not to Him, and His promise to us is, “I am with you always.”