Catching up on "Believing God"

I have been so behind on my homework for the "Believing God" study, so I brought my book to work Thursday night and last night to try to catch up if I had some free time. Thursday proved to be a busy night in the unit, but tonight has been fairly calm. So, I just finished the last week of homework and I'm officially caught up. I love how God's timing is perfect! Everything I read tonight was exactly what I needed to hear, and I've been beating myself up over slacking off on the homework. Anyways. . .Just wanted to share a couple of things that stuck out to me. All of this week's homework continued to look at the "Hall of Faith" listed in Hebrews. We can learn so much from these ordinary, flawed individuals who God used simply because they believed Him and were obedient!

Beth pointed out that some of the people mentioned were called to action in their obedience, while some were called to do nothing at all and let God's plan unfold. Oh, how messy things can get when we get ahead of God and start trying to take matters into our own hands (like Rebekah did in regard to Isaac's blessing on his sons). God might have already revealed to us what His plan is, but we sometimes run ahead of Him and try to "help Him out." In relating this story, Beth points out that at this point in our study we have seen God calling people to action, but in some cases "we see a different and oftentimes harder dimension of faith: when faith requires us to do nothing at all, while our human nature screams to interfere. In these cases we believe; therefore, we do not act. Wisdom is knowing the difference between the two." This point couldn't have been more timely for me. This is my journal entry: "Over the last several months, God has asked me to do alot of waiting instead of acting. It is so hard for me to sit on my hands and not take matters into my own hands. He has continued to prove Himself faithful, and just when I think He's done using a situation to teach me, He says, 'Think again!' While it can be scary, it's actually kind of fun and adventurous to completely trust His plan!"

In one of the day's studies, we looked at the faith of Jacob. Hebrews 11:21 says, "By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff." The interesting thing was that, like his father, he blessed the younger grandson with the blessing of the firstborn. This time, however, deceit wasn't involved. He openly did exactly what he knew God had told him to do. This caused his son to be displeased. This is Beth's commentary: "Misunderstandings can initially result as we exercise enough faith to do what we're convinced is God's will. Sometimes, those misunderstandings can involve people whose opinions are very important to us. If we are convinced that God has willed the action, let's go the extra faith mile and believe that God will handle the consequences. . . Though his son was displeased and his grandsons were sure to experience friction, Jacob knew his God was faithful. Time would tell." Most of the time, truly believing God and being obedient requires us to step into uncomfortable situations. Remember that God knows exactly what He's doing, and if we are living in the Spirit and doing as He has called, we can leave the results up to Him! He's always faithful and can always be trusted!!!

The last person we looked at in the homework for this week was Rahab, the prostitute. I've always loved that God included her in "Hall of Faith." She not only was commended for her faith in hiding the spies, she was included in the lineage of Christ. While I knew all of this, this was the first time I'd really looked at the fact that Scripture indicates that Rahab lived among the Israelites after the fall of Jericho. She even married an Israelite and gave birth to Boaz, the man who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. What a beautiful story. Beth's commentary is: "She didn't just have the faith to be delivered. She had the faith to be redeemed. Then accepted. Then made a bride. Then she exercised the faith to rear one of the finest men captured in the annals of Bible history. Generations later, drops of her spiritual blood could be found in the veins of the holy Son of God. Oh, the infinite implications of believing God!" God is in the business of using broken-down, messed-up people who are in the midst of sin. We just have to believe He is Who He says He is and allow Him to use us and transform us!