Tag: Faith

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The Unseen God Sees Us

“We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

As children, my brother, sister, and I engaged one day in an impromptu game of Hide & Seek. Eric was the seeker and, after he found me, we both went searching for Lisa, who was two years old at the time. We found her lying face down on the kitchen floor, her hands covering her eyes, and being very quiet. Our mother whispered to us that, since Lisa could not see us, she thought we could not see her. So Eric and I started walking about the house, asking aloud, “Where’s Lisa? Where’s Lisa?” A little betraying giggle arose from the kitchen floor. “There she is!”

In his first letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul exalted God as “the unseen one . . . he alone is God.”1 Not seeing Him, however, sometimes leaves us wondering if He sees us. Oddly, we’re quite convinced He observes our sins, but less certain as to our hurts and needs. We lament with David, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”2 Yes, fear comes to us more naturally than faith. But God is loving and faithful, and He acts in His higher ways and in His perfect timing. For instance, when Sarai’s pregnant servant Hagar fled from her in fear, an angel appeared and assured Hagar not only of a son, but offspring beyond number.3 So, Hagar gave this name to the Lord: El Roi, or “You are the God who sees me.”4 What a humble, beautiful and liberating confession.

Paul teaches us, “The things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal,”5 and so “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”6 That’s what faith is, “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”7 It is the creature who is flesh submitting to the Creator who is Spirit. And our faith pleases God, for it echoes throughout the heavens and the earth His character, moreover the entrustment of ourselves to Him.

Then what must we do? Seek Him boldly and in full confidence, for the unseen God will not hide from us. Rather, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”8

Father, today I rest completely in this: You are the God who sees me. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.9 In Christ we live; in Him we pray. Amen.

1 1 Timothy 1:17 NLT
2 Psalm 13:1 ESV, emphasis added
3 Genesis 16:7-12 ESV
4 Genesis 16:17 NIV
5 2 Corinthians 4:18b ESV
6 2 Corinthians 4:18a ESV
7 Hebrews 11:1 NIV, emphasis added
8 Matthew 6:6 NIV
9 1 Timothy 1:17 ESV

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True Belief: Reliance on God

Upon retiring a decade ago, I chose to take half my pension in a lump sum and the remainder in a series of monthly installments. The initial check was to come via courier on a certain day, so I waited for the doorbell — surely they would hand over my treasure face-to-face. As the day went on, I became progressively edgier until, stepping out the front door at one point, I glanced down and noticed an envelope half sticking out from beneath our welcome mat. There it lay, half of a pension built up over 35 years of hard work, now exposed with all the “protection” of a doormat. At that moment and all the way to the bank, I couldn’t wait to get this life savings transfer instrument out of my clutches and safely into the hands of those on whose security I could rely.

In John’s first letter to the early church, and specifically in 1 John 4:7 – 5:5, the apostle mentioned “love” or its variations — “loves,” “loved,” and “loving” — 32 times in 20 short verses. The passage is as much refreshing as amazing. Yet buried in all this love-speak was another four-letter word worth exploring: rely. John writes: “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”1 Most versions accurately translate the word as “believe,” yet the NIV’s use of “rely” here urges us toward a level of belief far beyond mental assent, to a relinquishment of self-will and complete entrustment of our entire lives to God, whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.2

Paul exemplifies belief to the point of reliance. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”3 The bold apostle understood true belief means relinquishing self-will and relying completely on God. Of his former religious achievements and repute, Paul now considered “everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”4 This is the kind of belief to which we are called, belief to the point of entrustment. This is life safely deposited in Christ on whose love we can rely. Take it to the bank.

“Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:3 NIV

Father, You are good, and in goodness You reach out to us. So fill us with the knowledge of Your love that we would joyfully rely on You every step of our lives. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 1 John 4:15-16 NIV
2 Isaiah 55:6
3 Galatians 2:20 NIV
4 Philippians 3:8 NIV

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Dance with the One Who Brung Ya

“You gotta dance with the one who brung ya” — so goes the American adage, a swig from the little brown jug of hillbilly parlance. It means to remain loyal to the people or principles that supported us in the past and led to our wellbeing in the present. It esteems integrity over indifference, confidence over doubt, and gratitude over exploitation. Yet we repeat this backwoods gem for a reason: the temptation not to heed it.

It was faith in Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by Paul, that brung the Galatian believers to the “dance” of the Spirit. They had welcomed the apostle “as if [he] were an angel of God,”1 and through Paul’s message, “the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to [them] as if {they] had seen a picture of his death on the cross.”2 They believed the good news of the Christ and received in themselves the Spirit of God. But as if in a race — or in this case, a dance — others “cut in”3 on them, an infiltration of those diabolically arguing the need to continue following the ceremonial laws of Moses. The Galatians cowed in fear to the falsehood, and their oppression showed: “What has happened to all your joy?”4 observed Paul. He had brung ‘em to the gospel, but now they danced with the law. So Paul chided them, and for their own good: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? . . . After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? . . . Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?”5

Legalism would still today “cut in” on our glorious dance with freedom. We no longer feel compelled to follow Old Testament ceremonial laws, certainly, but what about our fleshy demands regarding dress or worship style, for instance? God does not condition His grace on these, so why would we? Yet dancing with legalism is more deeply troubling still, for it grips us hard, steps on our toes, and whispers doubt in our ear. It dupes us into distrusting the enormity of God’s love for us and the sufficiency of His grace toward us. It tempts us to “lead” the dance by our works when we can only “follow” in His grace. This should not be, and it need not be.

So, ask yourself, “What was it that set your feet a-dancin’?” Was it the rigid and relentless demands of the law, or the heel-kickin’ joy of forgiveness and grace? Remember your answer. And dance forever with the One who brung ya.

“God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.” Romans 3:24 NLT

Father, lead us in Your truth, and remind us of Your grace. Grant that we would rejoice so freely in Your Spirit that others will join us in the dance forever. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Galatians 4:14 NIV
2 Galatians 3:1 NLT
3 Galatians 5:7 NIV
4 Galatians 4:15 NIV
5 Galatians 3:2-6 NIV