7/29/2021

Faith doesn’t make things easy,

it makes things possible.

By Marvin Chisholm

As My wife and I were on our way to church one Sunday Morning, I was debating on what to share on the Thursday night online Bible Study. While we were driving down Spaniards Neck Road, my wife saw a piece of paper in the middle of the church yard. She asked me if I would pick it up and dispose of it. As I went to retrieve the paper, I noticed a small slip of paper lying on the ground near the heat pumps. As I walked by, I thought to myself here I am in the middle of a yard full of damp grass in my good shoes just to pick up a piece of paper. Returning to the parking lot I picked up the little slip of paper. It had type on it the scripture verse Luke 1:37 with these words “Faith doesn’t make things easy; it makes them possible. “

As I sat in Sunday School, God impressed on me that this would be the topic I should share. God is so great in the ways that he leads us to where he wants us to go. He used a piece of paper in the middle of a field and my wife to notice it.

As I considered different people in the Bible that did not have an easy time exercising their faith, I was drawn to these few. Job chapter 1 describes what Job’s character was like and how he was tested. He was a man who was blameless and upright, and one who fear God and shunned evil.

Job lost everything he had including his ten children. Yet, he did not sin nor charge God with wrong. He had to deal with a physical attack from Satan as well as put up with three friends that brought no comfort to his situation. In all this Job was blessed for his faithfulness and rewarded with more than he had in the beginning. He even had ten more children. Through God, all this was accomplished because of his unfailing faith.

In Genesis chapter 22, Abraham did not have it easy when God told him to offer up Isaac his son as a burnt offering. It must have been a long three days as Abraham pondered the situation as he traveled to the place that God had appointed. As he built the altar and arranged the wood, I am sure his faith was sorely tested. After binding Isaac and placing him on the altar, with knife in hand, God showed up to deliver him. The promise made possible was that Abraham would become a great nation.

In Matthew 9:18-22 we read about a woman with an issue of blood. This woman suffered for twelve years with this physical condition and had spent all that she had. In an attempt to get relief from the doctors of that day, she grew worse instead of getting better. Then she heard of what Jesus was doing and of His healing power. She knew that if she could just get to Him everything would be okay. One day as Jesus was passing by, she knew that if she but touch His clothing she would be healed. Since Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd of people, she knew it would take all that she had just to get close to Him. Her faith rose and she pushed and crawled to where Jesus was. With just enough strength she reached out and touch the hem of His clothes. Her faith made it possible! In all the people that were touching Him that day, He felt her touch and healed her.

And again, in Luke 5:4-10. Here we have a group of professional fishermen. They knew how to fish and what bait to use as well as to where they would find fish. Yet, this time they came up empty. They had been out all night and caught nothing. They had quit for the day and were washing their nets. Jesus was there at that time with a multitude of people waiting to hear Him speak the Word of God. Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked to move away from the shore so He could speak to the people. When he finished, He told Peter to move the boat to deeper water and let down the nets. Peter told Jesus that they just finished working all night without catching anything. Then said, “nevertheless we will do it because of Your Word”. It is The Word of God that builds our faith. (Romans 10:17 – “so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”.) All we have to do is believe it. They engulfed a multitude of fish as a result of their faith.

As we see the great change in our culture concerning morals, religious freedom, and the onset of socialism, what will we have to face in the coming years? Will our faith be tested beyond anything we can imagine? Consider what the Nazis did to anyone that did not fit their agenda. During the Second World War fourteen million men, women, and children were murdered because of their faith. We in our comfortable America may soon find persecution at our doorstep.

I am not trying to spread fear and anxiety but hope and deliverance in our faith in Jesus. No matter what happens our faith in Jesus will carry us through. His promise to us is that He will never leave us or forsake us in our time of trouble.

We must have the same resolve as the three Hebrew children facing the fiery furnace when they said, “God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and will deliver us from your hand, O King. But if not, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. (Daniel 3:17 & 18).

Luke 1:27 – “For with God nothing will be impossible.”