Thin Ice Faith
Growing up in central Texas, we saw very little snow and ice. There was the blizzard of ’64. Almost 2 inches. That was huge for us as kids! What did we know? Not enough to make a snowman for sure, but we were happy that it was enough for snowball fights and making a few snow snakes!
We also didn’t know much about winter ice, though we heard some crazy stories about how people up North could actually skate on frozen lakes—LAKES! How does that work? How do you know if the ice is thick enough to hold your weight? Is it enough to just conjure up enough faith before you get out there? Quick answer: Not if it’s early winter. That ice is far too thin. It doesn’t matter how much emotionally based inner assurance you muster up to try and believe it will hold your weight. It won’t. You will get very wet and very cold.
Ah, but if you do the same thing in midwinter, then the ice will hold you up. But it won’t be because of your seemingly great faith. It will be because of the facts of winter ice and timing, and probably by the wise steps of checking with the local park ranger or safety notices before you lace up.
In short, emotionally based faith can feel trustworthy, but it isn’t. It is unreliable. It is unpredictable. It is self-deceptive. In fact, it can be downright dangerous. And yet, that is what many people think faith is. Some kind of inner assurance that will trump the facts or realities of this life and the next. But that would be thin ice faith. You’ve heard it:
“You can do anything you want and make your dreams come true—you just gotta BELIEVE!” (Okay, true for ONE out of 64 basketball teams or 128 tennis players that win the championship, right? But what about everybody else?)
“It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere.” I know that sounds good and feels good, but it is not good. We can be sincerely wrong. And people get hurt.
Biblical faith is very different. Hebrews 11 tells us: “Faith is the reality of things hoped for,” not the fantasy of things hoped for. It also says: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”
So, what does this look like in real life? Well, here’s what I’ve been learning over the years. There were times when I really felt, sensed, and believed that God was about to do some very specific and special things in our lives. I thought I was building my faith life to trust Him to do the things my heart was set on.
I’m guessing that you have as well. Maybe regarding a promotion, or a new job, engagement, or pregnancy, or windfall, or healing, or “Yes” answers to prayers that you’ve been praying for a long, long time.
Did God deliver for me? Well, sometimes yes. But sometimes no. Hmmm. Maybe my faith wasn’t strong enough when things didn’t go like I hoped. Maybe I just needed to work on having a “great faith in God!” But that didn’t work either. So, after a few years of that roller coaster ride of well-intentioned faith, a deeper truth began to emerge.
“Hey, wait a minute. I’ve been trying to muster up great faith in what I thought God was going to do—my projections—my hopes—my dreams.” And when some of them didn’t happen, I blamed God! I thought He was messing with me. Holding out on me. Cheating me. But it was my projections that were often wrong. That’s when I heard this whisper from above in my heart:
“Son, the faith that pleases Me is the faith you have in Me, not in your projections.”
Oh. Wow. My projections were the thin ice where I focused my faith, rather than focusing my faith on the love, wisdom, character, goodness, and heart of God Himself—“the reality of things hoped for.”
It’s not about “having a great faith in God.”
It’s about “having faith in a great God!”
In fact, He said all we needed was faith about the size of a tiny mustard seed. He will take care of the rest, even if we don’t understand it at the time.
This is where we find the deepest kind of peace, joy, and rest, my friends. Why? Because we can pray for anything we like at any time and always know that however those prayers – not our projections – are answered by our God of the Ages, they will always, ALWAYS, be the best possible answers for our lives.
Even when He says “No,” like a loving parent says to their beloved child who wants to play with bright and shiny razor blades, right?
The Father knows best. I like it that way. I trust Him. That pleases Him. I believe that.
Faith is “acting on what we say we believe—everything else is just religious talk.” So there it is! Trust God’s heart, my friends. Skate on!
Trusting His “Yes” and “No” with you, Pastor Mark ([email protected])
Articles, videos and podcasts: markpg.org. Write and share at [email protected]. Hear me every Saturday, 8 a.m. on 91.5 FM.
