“Where is your Faith?”

A storm plundered the ship. Waves tossed the miniscule boat up and down and the wind blew in every direction. The water raged and the cloud-filled sky was dark. The ship was taking on much water. Life’s current situation was overwhelming and they were about to drown – so they thought.

Not until they saw themselves unable to control the boat did they go to the one who could help. God put them in a place where they were about to perish. They had only one place to turn. They must turn to the Master, their Saviour. He would deliver them.

So, they went to the Lord, who was fast asleep. With much anxiety and panic, they quickly explained things. He did not question them – at first. He arose and took care of the issue that was causing them a great burden. Then he looked upon them and calmly asked, “Where is your faith?”

Luke 8:25 “And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.”

We women worry. Yes, most of us know the Bible tells us not to; but we worry anyway. I’ve yet to meet a lady who doesn’t worry. Some less than others, but sadly the area of faith is something we need to work on daily. Men seem to ignore things so well, but we women do not have that ability. We worry.

We like to “see” things. We like a roof over our heads, food in the pantry, the car to be running properly, a fairly tidy house, good health, the bills paid on time, happy children, hubby making an income, our job going well, etc. etc. We also like to “see” the government being reasonably stable. There are a lot of things, we like to “see.” When we “see” things going well, then we feel better. When we “see” things going badly, we worry. But, God doesn’t work with “seeing.” He works with believing. He works with things we can’t “see” and faith is something we can’t “see.”

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Right now, things are a mess in the world. Covid has our lives turned upside down from what we were used to, governments are lying and changing every day, and many of us (or our spouses) have lost jobs. We can’t “see” any stability in our lives and quite frankly, “It can be scary.” This is the greatest time to “see” God do his handiwork.

We know we should live by faith but just how does one really do it? Since faith is something we can’t see, let’s look at some examples of the results of faith. Like the wind, we can’t “see” it; but we “see” the results of the wind. So to help us “see” faith, I’m going to give some examples from my life. Maybe it will be an encouragement for others to trust God and live by faith instead of by “seeing.”

• Four years prior to our permanent move to New Zealand, we went to NZ for 6 months. Plane tickets were in hand; but I couldn’t “see,” in the bank book, how we would survive financially in a foreign country. It was scary to fly to a foreign country knowing we didn’t have enough money. Six months later we came back and never missed a bill, etc. This was the first colossal step of faith I had ever taken in my life. I couldn’t “see” how it would financially happen so all I could do was have faith.
• Years ago, in the states, we purchased a used van that had a windshield coated in a waxy residue and we couldn’t use the wiper blades. We only had $600 a month income. I couldn’t “see” how we’d pay for a new windshield. The person who sold us the van had to do engine repairs. The day the repairs were supposed to be finished, my husband called to see when he could pick it up. The repair man told my husband, “I’m sorry it isn’t ready. You will have to wait a couple days. When my repair man was working on your van, he accidentally threw a wrench through your windshield and broke it. We will fix it at our expense.”
• The actual planning and moving to New Zealand was horrendous; it was something that only God could orchestrate. Many times I couldn’t “see” just how we would get to NZ. I would need a book to tell of all the details God worked out for us to move to NZ. We even got permanent residence in a year. Even our immigration agent said, “I really thought this would be turned down. I’ve never “seen” this type of application approved before.”
• In the states, we needed a second car, I told my husband, “I’m going to pray someone gives us a car. It only needs to get us to church.” For a moment, my husband had a lack of faith. Something he doesn’t usually have. He laughed at me. He couldn’t “see” someone giving us a car. Not too long after my prayer and asking around, God gave us a car. It wouldn’t go more than 30 minutes without over-heating; but that was okay, church was only 10 minutes away. A few years later, we gave it back to the same family with the over-heating issue repaired.

Notice all these instances and many others I could tell of, I couldn’t “see” how it would happen. That was my lack of faith because I couldn’t “see” it. Since I couldn’t “see” how something would happen, I figured it couldn’t. I think now you get the point. Faith steps in where we can’t “see” how something will happen.

What in your life are you upset about because you can’t “see” how it will be resolved? Government? Jobs? Health? Children? Etc.? Step back and hand it over to God and “see” him handle it through your use of faith in him.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

It may take time. God doesn’t always work instantly. It may take days, weeks, months, or years, but God will work it out. Remember faith steps in where we can’t “see” how something will happen.