Why Is Faith Such a Big Deal to God?
Quite a few people in my life are going through some really hard stuff—the kind of stuff that situates you between the rock of faith and the hard place of having that faith tested. The kind of hard place that rocks your faith or anchors it more solidly to the One who never leaves or forsakes His own.
Why is faith such a big deal to God? If we’re honest (and according to the Bible), when we waiver in unbelief, we deny who He is and the truth of His promises. I recently heard it said that when we fear, it is a form of atheism. It reveals unbelief.
When we waver in unbelief, God is still God. He’s still everything He says He is and will do everything He says He will do. It doesn't change Him, but it greatly affects us.
As God said to Judah’s King Ahaz through His prophet Isaiah, “If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9). In the Hebrew, this means you will not be built up, supported, fostered, faithful, able to trust. Insecurity, chaos, and immorality will mark your life. You will be unsteady and quick to quit.
When God spoke these words to Ahaz, he was in a hard place. Two kings had approached Jerusalem to make war against it, and King Ahaz’s “heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind” (Isaiah 7:2). But God said, “Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted” (verse 4). He assured Ahaz his enemy’s evil intentions would not stand or come to pass (verse 7).
It is here, situated between the rock of faith and the hard place of having that faith tested, that God says to Ahaz:
“If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9).
The converse is true: believe, and be established— immovable and unshakable in Christ and in God’s unfailing promises.
What God says is true. Belief evidenced in behavior leads to our experience of His truth for us and in our circumstances.
God even told Ahaz to ask Him for a sign. Ahaz refused to test God, so God gave Him a sign anyways: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (verse 14).
His future sign that required faith is our rear-view reality that requires faith. God will always require faith, because without it, “it’s impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
The converse of this is true, as well. Faith always pleases God.
Immanuel has come. God’s promise is proven true. He can be trusted, even in hard places when really hard stuff challenges our faith. As we believe Him anyway, we already have His sign that He is faithful, and He will establish us—build us up, support and foster us, make us faithful, able to trust Him. Life may be in turmoil, but in it, He will make us secure and quiet. Morality will mark our lives, and we will be steady and steadfast.
Faith is a big deal to God, because He wants to be known as God. When we have faith, it pleases Him, and WE experience His faithfulness—a catalyst to greater faith. Faith conceives greater faith. Doubt and unbelief don't make us un-His, but as James explains in James 1:6-8, "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
Doubt, worry, anxiety—it creates instability in us, not Him, but hear this: our faithlessness does NOT nullify the faithFULLness of God (Romans 3:3)!!!
If double-mindedness creates instability, what does it mean to be single minded? The phrase that comes to mind for me is to have a one-track mind. Whatever is before me, I direct my thoughts down one track: faith in God. This may sound Pollyanna in its simplicity, but it really is that simple. Now, simple doesn't always mean easy, but the track of our thoughts is determined by the choice we make as to the path they take. We can't control circumstances that catch us off guard, others' choices that affect us, threatening thoughts that come out of left field, world events, unexpected diagnoses, and so on. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit—God's gift to His children to be our Teacher, Helper, and Strength—we can choose the path of our thoughts when confronted by these things.
Let us, like Abraham, believe “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did”; let us “contrary to hope, in hope believe”; let us not be weak in faith, considering our limitations or impossible circumstances; let us “not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but (be) strengthened in faith, giving glory to God…fully convinced that what He has promised He [IS] able to perform” (Romans 4:17-21)!!!
Let us have faith, for God is faithful and rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).