Circumstantial faith (Most ideas inspired by Andy Stanley- Faith, Hope, and Luck series)
The summer
before my Freshman year in college, I became frustrated with things in my life. One might say I was at a low. My parents had
been fighting more than usual and I lacked confidence in how to handle life. So, I went out to a local lake where there
was a pavilion and decided to go through Proverbs and pray for God’s guidance. I wanted to write out a moral code- create a
standard from which to live. I felt very
close to God at that time. By the end of
the week, a lot of prayer time and spiritual clarity had been attained and
right before I left on the last day, I went out to the end of the dock and
decided to throw a hook in the water. I
sat at the dock moving the hook up and down as I prayed. After about 15 minutes of witnessing bluegills
swim up to the hook, inspect it and then swim away, it was clear they weren’t
going to take my imaginary bait…after having a very great “moment” in prayer,
something made me think to ask God to make a fish bite the hook. So I said “God, make me a fisher of fish.” I know…what a weird way to say, “God, make a
fish bite my hook.” With no bait,
suddenly a fish immediately attacked my hook!
In less than a second after I said the word “fish.” I about fell off the dock into the water and
couldn’t believe what had happened. I
felt like I was part of a New Testament miracle! At that time, that “miracle” made me feel
like God was guiding me and that He was with me. Then I decided to try walking on water….that
didn’t go so well.
Looking
back, I really believe God either knew the fish was going to bite my hook and
that the Holy spirit moved me to pray that prayer, or He made the fish bite the
hook. It sure gave me a boost in
confidence. However, there have been
plenty of circumstances in life that have occurred- circumstances involving
pain, sadness, and hardship that might have made me interpret God’s presence in
my life differently.
Is your
faith impacted by your circumstances?
Have you ever felt closer to God when things are going the way you
thought they should go? Has your faith ever waivered depending on
your circumstances? If I get that
job…then God is with me and I love him.
If I get an A on the test or if my test comes back negative…then I have
no problem believing in God. We’ve heard
amazing stories of answered prayer.
Friends are healed, the check comes in the mail, in younger years…”shew,
I didn’t get caught”, the cop didn’t pull me over, she said yes, a fish bites
an empty hook…these circumstances seem to strengthen our faith. But what do we do when our prayers aren’t
answered? What happens to our faith then?
As we focus
on the cross and we remember His sacrifice for our salvation, may we remember
our faith is based, not upon whether or not God answers our prayers the way we
think they should be answered, but upon a man who died on the cross and came
back to life. This moment is about an amazing
miracle that set us free. This moment is
what drove the growth of the early church before the bible existed and through
intense persecution. Our faith has
nothing to do with us or our circumstances.
May we stay here…in this moment…when our circumstances make us want to
doubt.
Hebrews
12:2-3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, scorning it’s shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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