By Li Xin
What is true faith? Many people think: “I believe one hundred percent that there is a God. This is faith in God.” In truth, only admitting that there is a God, that is, admitting God’s existence, doesn’t represent true faith in God. For instance, under comfortable environments, with our works going well and family lives being peaceful, many of us will believe that there is a God and have the faith to follow God, actively reading the Bible and attending meetings; however, once something unpleasant happens, we will become weak immediately. When our families lose peace due to something against our wishes happening, or when we are always refused a new job in spite of our praying, we begin losing our faith in God. When God’s work does not conform to our notions, we even lose faith in God completely. Are these not the manifestations of not having true faith in God? Then, what is true faith exactly?
As for this question, there are two passages of words that speak clearly, “What does this word, ‘faith,’ refer to? Faith is the genuine belief and the sincere heart that humans should possess when they cannot see or touch something, when God’s work does not align with human notions, when it is beyond human reach. This is the faith that I speak of. People are in need of faith during times of hardship and refinement, and indeed, faith is something that is followed by refinement; refinement and faith cannot be separated. No matter how God works, and no matter your environment, you are able to pursue life and seek the truth, and seek knowledge of God’s work, and have an understanding of His actions, and you are able to act according to the truth. Doing so is what it is to have true faith, and doing so shows that you have not lost faith in God. You can only have true faith in God if you are able to persist in pursuing the truth through refinement, if you are able to truly love God and do not develop doubts about Him, if no matter what He does you still practice the truth to satisfy Him, and if you are able to seek in the depths for His will and be considerate of His will.” “When you face suffering, you must be able to lay aside concern for the flesh and to not make complaints against God. When God hides Himself from you, you must be able to have the faith to follow Him, to maintain your previous love without allowing it to falter or dissipate. No matter what God does, you must submit to His design and be prepared to curse your own flesh rather than make complaints against Him. When you are faced with trials, you must satisfy God, though you may weep bitterly or feel reluctant to part with some beloved object. Only this can be called true love and faith.” From these words, we see that true faith is the belief that we should possess when God’s work is not in accordance with our notions. When we face suffering and hardships, we do not lose our faith in God or complain against God and are able to follow God as always, and even if we can’t see His actions after praying, we still completely believe in His work and words without any doubts and have an obedient heart to seek out His will. This is true faith.
Let’s look at the experiences of Moses and Job, so that we can further understand this aspect of truth.
Understanding What True Faith Is From Moses’ Experience of Shepherding in the Wilderness
Moses, as everyone who has read the Bible knows, before leading the Israelites out of Egypt, was exiled by Pharaoh to the wilderness because of his killing an Egyptian. Moses was originally an Egyptian prince and led an extravagant life in the palace; however, he had to raise sheep to make a living when in the wilderness, and he could interact with only animals, with nobody to talk to. We may wonder how he lived such a life. To everyone’s surprise, in those tough years, Moses, through praying to God and relying on Him, survived in the wilderness at last. What’s more, after forty years of refinement, not only his hot blood and natural personality were ground away, but also he developed true faith in God, being a man after God’s heart. Thus, after that, Jehovah God formally used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When God called him, Moses didn’t make any personal choices, refuse or falter but instead accepted God’s commission. It is through forty years of refinement that Moses achieved this kind of faith.
Understanding What True Faith Is From the Story of Job Undergoing Trials
Job was the richest man in the east; however, in the trials, in a very short time, all his possessions were robbed by bandits and his sons and daughters were crushed to death in the collapse of his house. Facing all this, Job didn’t complain against God, because he had seen a lot of God’s deeds through all things and thus deeply understood that everything he owned was bestowed by God. Therefore, even though God took away everything from him, he never lost his faith in God because of losses in his own interests, and instead he said, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). Afterward, Job was covered with sores. When his wife advised him to curse God, he said, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). Because of his true faith, Job was able to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements in the trials, thus bearing resounding witness. In the end, he saw the back of Jehovah God and heard His voice.
We can see from these facts that every environment we encounter is arranged specifically for each of us by God, and that God’s intention is to perfect our faith and our knowledge of God, and also to purify us. The refinements Moses experienced made him cast off his temper and naturalness and be qualified to be used by God; after Job underwent the trials, his true faith had stood the test. Though we haven’t encountered circumstances like theirs, their experiences give us the right direction: No matter what hardships or setbacks we meet with in our life, no matter what misfortunes befall our family, we must have true faith in God’s sovereignty and omnipotence just like Job and Moses, and we should seek to satisfy God and obey Him, learn the lesson we ought to learn, not pandering to the weaknesses of the flesh or blaming God. Then true faith may gradually arise within us.
Source From: Find the Shepherd
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