“Faith will falter if the authority of Holy Scripture is shaken; and if faith falters, love itself is shaken; and if faith falters, love itself decays. For if someone lapses in his faith, he inevitably lapses in his love as well, since he cannot love what he does not believe to be true.” – Augustine of Hippo
I recently read a question that intrigued me. It’s a question that makes you think.
“What would be left, if God grabbed your life and shook it, and shook it, and shook it until everything that could be shaken was gone, and only those things that could not be shaken remained?”
Recent events in my life, have reminded me of how necessary it is; and how loving God is when he allows what faith you’ve had in people to be shaken. I’ve been reminded that to place your ultimate faith in the goodness of people is a fool’s errand.
I am by nature I suppose, a trusting person. When a man or woman looks you straight in the eye and makes earnest promises, I, as a matter of course, trust that what they are telling me is true. Especially since I have no evidence to support the claim that the opposite is true. Perhaps that makes me naïve; or perhaps its merely the assumption that people think as I do, that when you make a promise to someone, you move hell-fire and mountain, to carry it out. After all, is that not the honorable thing to do before God? Is that not the very definition of “loving your neighbor as yourself”?
And yet, I have been reminded in recent days, that there’s only one person in the universe, who can be trusted implicitly. For he is One whose track record remains unblemished in this regard. Who never makes a promise he does not keep; who never makes a deceptive promise, he has no intention of keeping. And I think you know to whom I am referring.
The God of Heaven is like no other. In studying the Bible, a person comes to understand one fundamental difference between himself and his Creator: which is, as created beings we are subject to change; we grow and develop…we decay and wear out like a garment. But God, unlike His creation, DOES NOT CHANGE!!!!! For the immutability of God is the one attribute among many which sets Him apart, and makes him unlike any other within the created order of existence. So much so, that it can be truly said of God, that “There is no one like Him!”
Now we know that God doesn’t change because this is what he has revealed about himself. What does God say about himself? In Malachi 3:6 we find this remarkable description, “I am the LORD, I change not”.
Everything within the created universe of our existence may change; burn out or wear out; collapse or turn to dust…with this wondrous and immutable exception… the God of very God, who brought it all into existence and sustains it by the power of his divine will. For he, unlike his creation, is unchangeable… in His person, in his perfections, in his purposes, and in his promises!
This provides for us, as the writer of Hebrews reveals, “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” And I think that if I did not have that hope; the assurance in life that there was at least one place I could run, to find a person who never disappoints; I would most likely become a lonely recluse. I would more than likely live a monastic life hidden away; living in constant distrust, and disgust of the people around me, not knowing who could be trusted; being cynical of everyone and everything. It would be a lonely way to live.
But knowing that there is a divine place of shelter to which I can flee; my heavenly daddy who loves me without reserve; who listens and empathizes with my hurt and dissolution; who never fails to fulfill what he promises to do, allows me to continue to be a trusting, positive person.
And yet, God oftentimes lovingly knocks out from under his servants the pegs of the chair upon which they’re resting. He’ll grabs our lives and shakes them, and shakes them. And he shakes them until everything that could be shaken is gone, and only those things that could not be shaken remain. He does this for loving and good purposes.
He shakes our life to see if the one thing that remains…is our faith. Will we continue to believe even when we lose everything else?
William Whiting Borden was a man of such faith. He was the man who was the heir to the Borden Milk Company fortune; the cousin of the infamous multiple-murderer Lizzie Borden. A man who could have had a long, plush and easy life as a multi-millionaire but who because of faith turned his back on it and instead gave his life to Jesus.
Not far from the Great Pyramids in Egypt, in the streets of Cairo, down the back alley of a street littered with garbage on a plot of overgrown grass in a graveyard for American missionaries is a sun-scorched tombstone that reads “William Borden, 1887-1913”.
Borden did what most people found unbelievable; he rejected the life of comfort and ease to bring the good news of forgiveness and life in Christ to Muslims. He refused even to buy himself a car and gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to missions. After only 4 months of zealous ministry in Egypt, he contracted spinal meningitis and died at the age of 25.
How do you explain that kind of life? How do you explain someone turning their back on everything that everyone in the world holds dear? How do you explain anyone laying down their lives in service for people who would more typically be considered their enemies?
The Christian author Randy Alcorn tells the story of visiting Borden’s grave, dusting off the epitaph describing his love and sacrifices for the kingdom of God and for Muslim people; and reading this inscription on Borden’s tombstone:
“Apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation for such a life.”
You know you can say that about a lot of people from the past; not the least of which was Abraham! For just like William Borden’s life; God shook, and shook, and shook Abraham’s life…and what remained was a faith so remarkable; so unshakable…that we’re still talking about it, even today!
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to listen to the life of Abraham, for his is a faith that still speaks to us. For the New Testament presents Abraham as the quintessential example; the greatest outstanding example of all those who have ever lived by their faith!
And from his life, you’ll learn an important Principle of Faith: When you walk by faith, you join a company of extraordinary men and women whose lives speak into future generations about who God is and what he can do. We see that this is true of William Borden’s life and this is the point of reviewing Abraham’s life.
Because, whether you know it or not, your faith, (or lack of it), is saying something…your faith speaks to the people around you, and it will speak even to generations beyond you!
So, if we listen, what will Abraham’s life tell us about Unshakable Faith?
In Hebrews 11, the writer picks three events from the life of Abraham which teach us how to walk by faith. And what you’ll notice is that with each succeeding event in Abraham’s life you’ll find a faith that is more remarkable than the one behind it. (great faith –greater faith –greatest faith). i.e. Abraham’s faith only gets stronger as the years go by!
So, we find there three events in the life of Abraham each speaking to his unshakable faith in the Lord: 1st Event (vv.8-10) we find his faith speaking about The Adventure of Faith; 2nd Event (vv.11-16) his faith speaks about The Impossibility of Faith; 3rd Event (vv.17-19) his faith speaks about The Great Test of Faith.
Let’s begin with the first and in subsequent blog posts, we will tackle the rest. In Hebrews 11:8, we read this testimony about Abraham’s faith:
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
From this, we learn that there is an adventurous quality to the issue of faith. We know from the Old Testament, God called Abraham out of the life he was living in the Ur of the Chaldees. He called him to leave his family and friendships; everything he had known and was familiar, to go to a far-off place he had never seen before. Now, the amazing thing to think about is: “Who was Abraham before God called him?” He was a pagan, worshipping the gods of his ancestors!
And here’s something even more remarkable: Abraham obeyed. He packed up his stuff, his wife; his nephew; his dad, and headed out on the basis of a promise of an inheritance by a God he had just met, “not knowing where he was going”.
Note the fact that He doesn’t debate or complain; he doesn’t wait or procrastinate. He heads out, trusting that God will lead him to where he needs to be. It’s remarkable!
Question: How many of us would be willing to do that? There were no brochures of the land of Canaan available at a travel office somewhere; no signs pointing the way; no tour guides to answer his questions. He went on the basis of God’s promise alone!
From this we excavate from ancient times, three principles of living by faith:
1st Principle: Living by Faith is always heading out into the unknown!
Living by faith always carries with it an element of adventure! And part of the adventure of faith is walking into the unknown with nothing more than the promise of God in your hand.
2nd Principle: Living by Faith involves facing hardships of various kinds!
So often we have almost romantic ideas about what living by faith entails. It sounds adventurous, but this adventure we call faith also entails hardship. For too long, it may be that we have labored under the delusion that doing what is right is easy! It’s not. It almost never is…which is why we need faith, to begin with.
3rd Principle: Living by Faith always lives in anticipation of the great things that God is going to do in the future!
V.10 Faith always looks forward to better days! It anticipates and believes in God’s goodness. It enables you to see the good that God is going to do…even though it hasn’t happened yet.
But see this where many of us struggle in our relationship with God. To put it plainly: We’re afraid of the unknown. We want to know where the road leads; we want assurances against calamity; we want the security of knowing what is coming…what awaits us! We are like an anxious skydiver standing at the airplane door 9,000 feet up in the air unwilling to jump and yet too ashamed to stay where we are. We stand at the door of the unknown too afraid to trust God with our lives to do what we know we should do!
Warning: If you’re the type of person who requires an itinerary for everything God asks of you; if you’re the type of person who requires a prospectus that lists every contingency that might occur before you follow God; if you have to know before you go…you’ll never walk by faith! You’ll play it safe and stay home; never making the journey to the Promised Land. And playing it safe as a disciple of Jesus Christ comes with its own price to pay; playing it safe will cost you even more than what you were being asked to risk, in the first place.
But if you’re a person who wants to walk by faith, as Abraham did, get ready…
- For stepping into the unknown. You haven’t yet seen where faith might lead you, but I know this it will lead you to greatness! And it will speak to generations after you’re gone.
- For becoming more of a pilgrim than a tour guide. Each day faith will stretch your vision. You will learn to savor the promises God has made to you; the things you don’t have as yet and you will learn to rejoice in them as if they are already in hand.
- For following close to Jesus. In faith, you’ll follow his teaching and example, and through faith, you’ll grow to know him on a personal intimate level you never thought possible.
Unshakable faith is always heading out into the unknown…but that’s ok, ‘cause Jesus knows the way!