The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"To the Degree We Know Him"
"The faithfulness of God's heart motivates and enables faith in our hearts."
Where does faith in the heart originate and then grow?
"Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were delivered: they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded" (Psalm 22:4-5).
The faithfulness of God's heart motivates and enables faith in our hearts. As we discover through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, the testimonies of fellow believers, and our own experience of our Lord's trustworthiness, we become better equipped to believe His promises. We trust others to the degree we know them. Thus, God begins from our conception to reveal His perfect integrity and nature of pristinely pure faithfulness. This leads to the new birth through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for all who respond to God's redeeming light, and then growth in faith for all who walk with Him in the glory that reveals how worthy He is to be trusted "with all thy heart" (Proverbs 3:5).
I often illustrate this truth by sharing the story of my mother wheeling our youngest daughter Emmie around the block in a stroller when Emmie was a baby. Our daughter loved the journeys, as did her grandmother, and I had complete confidence that Emmie was in good, trustworthy hands. I well knew my mother and her trustworthiness. However, suppose a stranger had knocked on my door one day. "Sir," he said, "I hear your baby daughter loves to be pushed around the block in her stroller. Well, here I am, sir! I'll be glad to do that for you every day!" Nice offer perhaps (albeit a bit strange). The gentleman may have been perfectly trustworthy. But if I didn't know him, forget about it! Again, we trust others to the degree we know them.
"With all thy getting, get understanding" counseled Solomon (Proverbs 4:7). Our axiom - we trust others to the degree we know them - means that the better we discover the truth of God in His Word and His working, the better we will trust Him. Subsequently, the more personal experience we have of God's trustworthiness, the more the Scriptures will glimmer with faith-fostering light, resulting in a beautiful cycle of the living Word illuminating the written Word, and the written Word illuminating the living Word. The result? Ever growing confidence in the One we trust more because we better know His perfect trustworthiness. His faithfulness known makes possible our faith exercised.
Every committal of trusting Godwe will ever perform can be traced to His faithfulness. We have a vital role of response in the matter. Our Heavenly Father does not do our believing for us. However, He does work to motivate, guide, and empower us to the freely chosen determinations we make to trust His heart and believe His Word. No saint of God will ever have any reason to be proud of faith, but rather to be amazed by both the divine faithfulness that reveals the trustworthiness of God, and the capacity created within us that grants our privileged responsibility to freely trust Him (Psalm 36:9; Romans 10:8). What a wonder, and what a vital reality to remember as we seek to walk by faith in so faithful a Lord. Yes, we trust Someone to the degree we know Him.
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
(Romans 10:17)
"And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee."
(Psalm 9:10)
Weekly Memory Verse
As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
(John 1:12)
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