Gtcotr/ss011424
I have a few questions for which I have no answers. Without respect as to what I believe, I will still have questions for which there are no available answers. I have realized that at some point everyone is going to have to trust something they cannot know for themselves. What we trust is up to us …
From experience I have observed people usually trust either:
Both logic and emotion are a fruit and not a root. Logic is based on the limited knowledge we possess at any given point in time. Any point of view based on logic is subject to change whenever more information comes to light. Logic and emotions may change, truth does not.
Feelings are subject to change when circumstances change. For these reasons, emotions and logic are often poor indicators of truth. Some things can be figured out and some things can’t. Some feelings are correct, and some aren’t. Neither logic nor emotion are dependable. We cannot allow only how we feel or what we can prove to fully represent truth.
There is a third element available to us which transcends human logic, reasoning, and the emotional makeup of an individual. This is:
There is a voice of the Holy Spirit which speaks to us like a wind blowing on our hearts and through our minds. The still small voice that Elijah heard; the rushing mighty wind which came on the day of Pentecost; the gentle nudge or a highlighted word of confirmation which comes from a song, a sign, or a sermon on Sundays … this is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you, it sounds like gold, agrees with the Bible, and you can trust it.
I often wake early in the morning with a word I know I can trust. And I can say for certain that the Lord has spoken to me. My faith in God’s word is enough to cover the questions for which I have no answers. Unanswered questions no longer stand between me and my trust in God and His Word.
Have you ever wondered:
I don’t know. But Just because I don’t know does not mean I don’t trust. Faith is not knowing and yet believing. I have come to a personal faith in God that transcends what I can prove or what I personally feel.
I refuse to have more faith in a scientist, or a situation than I do in that voice I have come to know as the Holy Spirit of God. I have decided to not trust myself more than I trust the Word of God. The Bible calls that faith.It would be silly to do otherwise. It might seem hard not, but it won’t later!
If you listen, there is a Voice within the voice, and if it is the Holy Spirit, it will always agree with the Word, the Will, and the Way of God.
There are several examples throughout the Bible which emphasize this truth. Time would fail us this morning to tell of all of the people who were moved by the Holy Spirit to defy logic, overcome emotional hardships, and accomplish great works of faith.
Hebrews 11 NKJV
32 ¶ And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
For the sake of time allow me to tell just a part of the story of Gideon.
Judges 6:11 ¶ Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.
Judges 6:15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Pushing to near the end of the story, which we should all read … with the help of the Lord, 32,000 Israelites gathered with Gideon to fight the Midianites and the Amalekites who were camped in the Valley of Jezreel.The Bible says there were so many of them that they looked like locusts, and their camels were without number. The Israelites were greatly outnumbered. Then God said:
Judges 7
2 … Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3 “Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4 But the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many …”
However … when the fighting started, God took over and the Midianites and the Amalekites and some of the other enemies of the Children of Israel were completely defeated. It’s an account well worth reading. And it confirms how God is not limited to human reason, logic, or understanding.
Judges 8: 28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more. And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.
During my years as a Born-Again Believer in Jesus Christ, I have had many questions for which I have found no answers. I’ve listened to arguments, insights, theories, conjectures, ideas, commentaries, and calculations … however – my overriding faith has come from trusting God more than I trust man or myself.
I have decided to not make myself miserable because I do not know the answer to every question. There is a peace which comes through faith.
Trust Him today. Listen for that Voice within my voice. The truth is confirmed by the Bible. Begin your faith journey today. Don’t limit God to your own understanding or His will to how you feel. Trust Him today!
Let’s pray …
