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Understanding Real Faith
What Happens When Faith Seems to Fail?
Sometimes the best laid plans get obliterated. Sometimes you did the right thing, as best as you knew at the time, and it should have worked out — but it didn't. And sometimes we have this ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
But here's the overarching question that forces us to find out what faith really is:
What happens when faith seems to fail?
God is not looking for people who have it all figured out. Look around. He's looking for people who will let him be Lord and who will fall in line behind him wherever he leads. He's looking for people who will follow him. He's not looking for an advisory council. And because of that — adding to that — we get our eyes blown open to the fact that sometimes his paths are hard. We are told they are best, and therefore we believe they are always best. So then, what should we do? Who should we be?
Jesus said, "According to your faith be it unto you."
The writer of Hebrews said:
"Apart from faith it is impossible to please God." — Hebrews 11:6
We not only need to possess faith — we also need a faith to possess us. Think about it. So if we are reaching out to possess faith, and faith is then possessing us, what happens when the answer doesn't come the way we thought it would?
Sometimes we pray and it all works out. Then other times, you pray the same prayer with the same faith — and it downpours. You know the parking spot right in front of the door — I'm so blessed and highly favored. And then you get the spot in the back 40 — I'm still blessed and highly favored. You follow? It gets deeper than that.
What about when you pray, Lord, please heal this person — and you watch them, someone being prayed over with genuine faith, someone who storms the throne room of God with legitimacy, with joy, and with authentic Christianity — and yet they wind down to the grave? You try to believe. You try to trust. And faith seems to fail.
A Real Example
Two men. One was my brother-in-law, Ken Hall. He had stage-four cancer. Another gentleman, nearly the same size, stature, and age had the exact same stage-four cancer. Both their sons were at the same private Christian school in the Twin Cities. About 150 parents and teachers came together at center court of the school basketball court. They laid hands on both men and prayed for healing.
The other man was supernaturally healed by God. He was still doing bike races thirteen years later.
Ken died — about four and a half, five months after that prayer.
One lives. One dies. Both had faith. Both had huge faith. Why?
That's the question that makes people ready to quit. Ready to walk away and say, what's the use? It's not working in my life. Maybe it goes good for others — that's fine — but it's not working here. And if you've been walking with Jesus for any length of time, there most likely will be a time when the answer simply does not show up in the way you think it ought to.
The heartache, the trials, the tears, the very strong fears — and faith doesn't seem to remove them.
I think that might be why Hebrews chapter 11 was written. Because then, like now, there were people ready to quit and walk away, ready to hang it up. They had been serving the Lord and now they were being persecuted. Hebrews 10:36 sets the stage for everything that follows:
"For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised." — Hebrews 10:36
You need to be learning to endure.
So rather than getting caught up in a superficial faith — dare I say a superstitious faith — here are three things that make for a strong faith, a spiritual faith, a biblical faith. The kind of faith that holds when the ground gives way.
1. Mature Faith Believes in the Supernatural Power of God
Hebrews 11:32–35a opens with what can only be called a Hall of Fame of the impossible:
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets — who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. — Hebrews 11:32–35a
These are stories we've known as long as we've been going to church.
Daniel in the lions' den — "Don't pray," they said. Daniel said, "Step off. I'm going to pray anyway." They tossed him in. Daniel messes up a lion and uses him as a pillow.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — "Bow down to the pagan idol or we throw you in the fiery furnace." The three Hebrew children said, "Not going to happen." Into the furnace goes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They wouldn't bow, they wouldn't budge, and now they wouldn't burn. The king looks in and says, "Hey, I thought we threw three dudes in there, but there are four guys in there, and the fourth looks like the Son of God." Jesus walked through there with them. And when they came out, the Bible says the smell of smoke wasn't on them or their clothes. You can't spend five minutes at a family reunion without the smell of smoke on your clothes. What a mighty God they served.
David and Goliath — nine feet tall — God gives David the victory.
Simon Peter's great jailbreak — the Spirit says, "Get dressed," and they roll out of there in style. Then Peter has more difficulty getting into the prayer meeting that is praying for his release than he does getting out of prison.
Love those stories.
If you have walked with Jesus for any length of time, every one of you has a story like that. A moment where God supernaturally, miraculously, inexplicably worked in your life, in your circumstances, in your heart — and there is no way to explain it apart from God. And you say, Praise the Lord.
Mature faith believes in the supernatural power of God.
Don't ever say there's something God can't do. God can do anything but fail. God cannot fail.
That is the foundation. And I say all that so you won't miss what happens when these two truths come together — because mature faith doesn't stop at the supernatural power of God. It also bows to something harder to hold onto.
2. Mature Faith Bows to the Sovereign Purposes of God
If Hebrews 11 ended right there — women received back their dead by resurrection — we'd all say, "Yeah, buddy. This is for me. For sure. I want this." But it doesn't end there, does it?
Right after the word resurrection in verse 35, there's one little word that changes everything: "Some." And then a little later — "Others."
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated — of whom the world was not worthy — wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. — Hebrews 11:35b–38
You're not going to see that in any evangelistic pamphlet.
The Mystery of God
Zechariah the prophet was stoned. Stephen was stoned to death — Acts chapter 7. You might say, "Well, Stephen must not have had the Holy Spirit." No — really? Read Acts 7, and you will see the most spirit-filled non-apostle in all of scripture. Think about this: Peter was filled with the Spirit and was used to win 3,000 souls. Stephen was filled with the same Spirit and got stones rained down on him. Both filled. Same Spirit. Completely different outcomes.
Verse 37 says "sawn in two" — most likely referring to Isaiah. Isaiah was put into a hollow tree by King Hezekiah, who hated him, and the king had the tree cut down with the prophet still inside.
Then there's this: Wicked King Herod arrested both James and Peter. James was put to death. Peter escaped jail. Did God love Peter more? Was James wrong and Peter right?
Explain it.
You can't. And that is exactly the point. God has sovereign purposes in life. Sometimes it's called the mystery of God.
Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe once said — and this is such a great quote:
"You better not try to get your theology from circumstances. If you do, you will come to the conclusion that God doesn't love you."
God Has a Greater Plan
Consider John 11. It is so clear that Jesus loves Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And yet in verse 15, Jesus says, "Lazarus is dead, and I am glad." Some translations say, "For your sake I'm glad."
Without knowing the rest of the story — without knowing how God was about to be glorified — that wouldn't make sense if you took it out of context. But God had a greater plan for Lazarus, didn't he?
God has not promised we would not know difficulty. What he has promised is that those who belong to him will know ultimate victory.
That's why Romans 8 matters so much here. Romans 8:35–37 — out of what has been called the Mount Rushmore chapter for every believer — says:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." — Romans 8:35–37
Do you notice? He doesn't say these things are not going to happen. Don't get the idea that tribulation, distress, persecution — that these things happen only to those who have no love for the Lord. He says: in all these things — right in the middle of them — we are more than conquerors. He has promised to never leave us, to never forsake us. He has not promised we will never have difficulty.
Even John the Baptist Had a Sinking Moment
When difficulty comes, you may be ready to quit. And you're in good company.
You know that's what happened to John the Baptist? One of the greatest compliments Jesus ever gave was: "John is the greatest man born of a woman." And yet John wanted to quit. John had a spell of doubt. He was ready to hang it up.
Think about it — this rugged man of God, from the wilderness, pointing to Jesus, baptizing with holiness and Spirit, now arrested and thrown in a dungeon. He had been preaching a powerful, victorious Christ, a Messiah to come with power. And now he's sitting in prison, wondering, I've been true to him. Why can't he get me out of this place?
So he sent some of his messengers to Jesus, asking:
"Are you really the Messiah, or should we look for someone else?" — Matthew 11:3
Never mistake a slipping moment for the full measure of a person God calls. John had a sinking moment. Here's what Jesus said in response:
"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." — Matthew 11:4–6
Did you catch the message? I have cleansed. I have healed. I have raised the dead. John — if I haven't taken you out of prison, it's not because I can't. Don't get offended at me.
If you've prayed for a miracle and it hasn't happened, it is not because God is limited. It is not because he doesn't love you.
A wise man once said:
"Faith is not receiving from God what we want. It is accepting from God what he gives and what he allows. That is faith. That is trust."
The If Not Clause
What has helped for years — and what is worth passing on — is what can be called the if not clause. When you strengthen your if not clause with the power of the Spirit in your life, nothing will be the same on earth again. Nothing will.
Look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego again. The king said, "Bow down or get tossed in the furnace." Their answer:
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not — be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." — Daniel 3:16–18
Our God is able, and we believe he will. But if not — we are not budging.
Notice the faith there. It's settled. It's sure. Their minds are made up. The outcome does not determine their allegiance.
That is not weak faith. That is stronger faith than most people ever exercise. Are you ready to quit because God hasn't done the thing you've asked him to do? Then it's time to get that if not clause active and alive in your walk. Let's quit bargaining with God. If we win, we praise him. If we lose, we praise him.
The prophet Habakkuk put it this way:
"Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls — yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." — Habakkuk 3:17–18
Everything goes. Everything slides. Nothing works out.
Yet I will rejoice.
That is the if not clause in full color. A strong faith bows to the sovereign purposes of God — even when those purposes are a complete mystery. And that in no way diminishes the supernatural power of God. The question is not only, do you have faith to escape? The question is: do you have faith to endure and still praise God?
3. Mature Faith Is Based on the Settled Promises of God
Here's where it all lands:
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. — Hebrews 11:39–40
God has a great plan, and he is working that plan. We know God will keep his promises to us.
Now look at verse 39 and notice the grade — how God rates all of them, the ones who escaped and the ones who endured:
"Commended through their faith."
A+.
Not because the miracle came. Not because they got out. Because they had faith. Some escaped by faith. Some endured by faith. All had faith. That is the testimony.
Don't Look for Everything in This Life
Here's what's real, though: the good things of this life are going to fail you sooner or later. Every one of them. Love comes, and then tragedy hits. Good jobs come, and then companies go under. Health fails when you least expect it. How many people have worked their whole life, retired, and then passed away a month later? Life is truly a mystery, and it will never be fully figured out. We expect too much of life and not enough of God.
So when you say that kitschy little phrase — let go and let God — stop for a second when you say it. When you say let go, really let go. When you say let God, really let God. His ways are so much higher than our ways.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." — Psalm 37:4
But understand — if you are genuinely grounded with God, you will not have desires of your heart that are selfish or aimed at your own material gain. The desires of your heart will be his will. And the mark of a mature Christian is not my will, Lord — it's your will.
When we win, I'll praise you. When we lose, I'll praise you.
Many of us with a mature faith don't bat a thousand. We have to go back to God's word. We come back lamenting sometimes. We ask for forgiveness because we were so shaken that fill-in-the-blank didn't happen. That's real. And God can handle it.
Your Greatest Treasure
If you're looking for everything in this life, you are not going to find it. What we need — you and I — is to rest in the great eternal promises of God. When things go upside down, remember: whatever it is, it is not your greatest treasure anyway.
The wrath of God that we deserved was satisfied in Christ on our behalf.
Let that always be your greatest treasure. Not the miracle. Not the escape. Not the outcome. The cross. That truth cannot be taken from you — not by illness, not by loss, not by unanswered prayer, not by any circumstance this life throws at you.
Rest in that. Build on that. Let that be the settled, sure, immovable foundation of your faith.