WALK BY FAITH…NOT BY SIGHT

Since being given this title many months ago now, I have fiddled and diddled about, writing a bit here and there, then everywhere I went someone else seemed to be talking on this very topic. I couldn’t improve on it so my blog has remained unfinished to date. Yet, the nagging to complete what I began has not passed….

2 Corinthians 5:7 “…for we live by faith, not by what we see with our eyes.”

I am reminded in this instance that everything God speaks has a purpose. I have been praying for the healing of a cataract forming in my left eye, and given I have little sight in my right…my sight is pretty important to me. So God has used my circumstances in the moment to teach me more about faith and trusting him with my day-to-day life.

As I have sat with this title, I am challenged by it. In an age where “seeing is believing”, God’s Word again turns our human constructs upside down. Faith, by dictionary definition, is “a strong belief based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.” …” complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”

The Bible, however, In Hebrews 11:1 states: “faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”

I recall being told more than once that faith was for the weak minded…for those who did not possess the fortitude to take responsibility for their lives and consequences of their choices but rather used faith as a crutch…an excuse. I was terribly upset at this perceived attack on my character but have, over time, developed a greater confidence in my belief in God and the truth of His Word over and above the opinions of others.

We all exercise “faith” in various forms and constructs. We ride in elevators, planes, trains, and cars all with an expectation for good and success, despite our personal lack of control over our circumstances in that moment. We have faith that those who have designed, built, tested, and done so with integrity, skill and care therefore we can trust, often without any conscious awareness of our faith, in the product and its ability to fulfil our needs.

In our day-to-day world then, we place our faith in the knowledge, expertise and wisdoms gathered over time by those holding the degrees, the accumulated research and documented evidence.

So where then do we find the documented evidence of the nature of God and His response to us, with its visible, tangible proofs that enable us to anchor our faith in Who He is and what He says as truth?

The Bible is my research paper, full of documented evidence of God’s interaction and care of those He created, of repeat interactions, written and verbal accounts as was the way of the day, passed from generation to generation, of God’s patience and rerouting to achieve what He had ordained was the best results for His chosen people. These are my litmus test of God’s power, heart and determination to love me despite myself. I have 2000 years of historical evidence backed by alternative sources and archaeological findings on which to base my trust. The Gospel accounts are independent accounts of the life of Jesus, God’s Son, written with personal and cultural perspective, by those who lived and breathed life with Him, describing the nature of God through the life and workings of His Son and the bringing together of the prophecy and plans of God to show His desire for us… and that he is faithful, trustworthy and loves us and wants to fulfil our needs.

It is in this context I am being asked to trust in the nature of God, to entrust to Him my needs and desires and as said in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all my cares and anxieties on Him…and leave them with Him, for He always tenderly cares for you.”

This is more than just about my vision. This is about life…all of it!

It has been my observation and experience that those of us who live in awareness and acknowledgement of our faith have at least a rudder for life…and an anchor in tough times.

Jeff and I were discussing over dinner one night, generally about memorising scripture, Bible college, qualifications and education as I was musing over my lifetime in the church yet had little knowledge and understanding of the Bible, of God and His nature.

The disciples were a mix of uneducated fishermen, largely uneducated, unpopular and unqualified by all human religious leadership standards for the task for which they were chosen…to represent The Messiah…. God on earth.

I find myself now, in a volunteer role, placed in conversations and circumstances where I am often overwhelmed by my lack of knowledge and experience, and feel green and inadequate for the job.

I can only imagine…and take some cues from the written accounts in the Gospels…. that the disciples were very much in the same place, although they were in the tangible presence of Jesus. Their call was to say “yes” in trust and follow….and we are no different. So with no “vision” for what’s next, or future plans with no qualifications, certificates, “visible “proofs other than the testimony of others, in the Bible and many more since…and tangible undisputed evidence other than the experience of God’s faithfulness, healing and presence, I am being asked to walk in faith…not by sight holding to the security I know in the God who loves me. It involves trusting God knows me and the best way forward…He becomes my eyes….my vision, then I see with His eyes, perception and ❤.

So, this concept of walking by faith, not by sight is not a random thing…it is a lifestyle….an everyday thing. It is a surrender to God’s will and purpose…He who “having determined (my) destiny ahead of time has called me to Himself” (Romans 8:30), I, not knowing the where’s, why’s and ways He will bring anything about.

Firstly, I need to be willing. David, in Psalm 51:10 prays for a “willing spirit”.

Then, I need to be in readiness…expectancy…for God’s next move…expectancy for blessing, if not for me, for someone He will use me to bless in some random, simple, unexplainable way, that I will probably miss the implication of in its seemingly small act of service, hospitality, word of encouragement, gesture of friendship….and love. God will place people and circumstances in front of me, either for my benefit or for theirs. I pray often that God will open my eyes to see as He sees in every situation so I can respond in a God- heightened sense of awareness and sensitivity to the need in the moment. Help me see all things through the eyes of Christ with heavenly perception then my sight will be perfect and give me a clarity of vision that is directed by the Holy Spirit.

What then do I have that enables me to stand in confidence before God and say…I fix my eyes on You? I do not need to see because He can see all things. I have tended to see the glass half empty…to be short sighted in seeing only what was right before me…and self-focussed. With no long-range vision, I would be narrow in my thinking, critical of myself and others and myopic in my “world view”, which was just what was happening to me in my patch.

 I need a long-range eternal perception…a depth of vision that sees beyond the temporal, that sees with the eyes of love and with the knowledge that I am loved, and that God is good. This changes my focus from what ails me to the given promises throughout the Bible…Gods Word…alive and active.

So, my favourite verse has been Romans 8:28

“For I am convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for our good”.

How then does that play out in a practical sense in my life? How do I translate that in a way that makes sense to you, the reader, and to me?

During my twelve months or so of treatment, sitting in those clinic rooms every 3 weeks in a silent but shared experience of shaken certainty with others in varying degrees and stages of care, I had to turn my attention from myself, determinedly grab with both hands God’s promises of His love and care for me, and creatively invest myself in a passion project of provision for other’s welfare. I made cards and wrote encouraging words of life, health, joy and blessing. Not to sing my own praises…because on more than one occasion I was challenged by my own writings, finding I was actually encouraging myself. It was as much saving myself from a spiral of fear and, initially, forcing myself to look at a different glass…then whether mine was half empty or half full was not an issue.

I have completed a treatment regime a few weeks ago. My test results thus far have alluded to a successful outcome as far as the doctors are able to conclude at this point. My faith in God’s overseeing all that has played out in these past 3 years is to my mind indisputable. Has everything worked as I had hoped, prayed for and expected? No.

At that point I must accept that God has had a plan that included me and was contingent on my faith in His goodness and love towards, and for, me. It required my belief in His Word. Not just a belief but a receiving …a claiming that goodness that the Bible says is mine, is mine for the taking. So even in those times when my circumstances didn’t change and I wasn’t miraculously healed even as I believed was possible, I clung to the words before my eyes and the promise that God’s word is truth and the promises written there were as much mine as yours or your loved ones.

The story in Mark 5:25-34 of the haemorrhaging woman who touched Jesus cloak while he was walking in the crowded streets has been my anchor of faith. Jesus realised someone had drawn power from Him in that moment and when she admitted she had touched him, he responded with “Daughter, because you dared to believe, your faith has healed you. Go with peace in your heart and be free of your suffering.”

For me to live by faith and not by sight or circumstances, such as the statistical findings of similar cases to mine, by the doctor’s insistence on regular scans and tests until they have collected sufficient evidence to satisfy their professional “due diligence”, I have taken that story and made it my own. I began this journey with cancer by asking God if I could trust him and if His word was true. I needed to know. I needed something tangible to cling to when the bottom fell out of my world.

Well, to the distress of some and the confusion of others, I have lived each day since in God’s tangible (and as per the dictionary definition…clear and definite, real) grace. I am well. I am taken aback when people look at me and comment that I look well as if they anticipate something different. I live in grace…. Undeserved favour… every day, and in gratitude and in faith in those words….” because you dared to believe”.

So, I go back to Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for.”

 It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”

God is good. Walk then by faith, not by sight. He sees so much better than I do.