On the other side of faith

  I have never been too good at this faith thing. The Bible says if we have faith the size of a grain of  mustard seed, we can move a mountain. The same Bible also says without faith it is impossible to please God, so I would guess that faith is pretty  important to God.

  If you went back in Bible times and tried to convince some of the Bible characters that God couldn't do certain things after He had done them, you'd never convince them.

  Imagine telling Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego a few years after their fiery furnace ordeal that God couldn't keep someone alive and untouched in a fiery furnace. They'd laugh at you and declare they know He can, for He already did it.

 Imagine telling David some time after killing Goliath that God could never help him kill a giant.

Imagine telling Daniel that God couldn't keep the lions from eating him after the fact, or telling Moses that God couldn't part a sea and make dry ground to cross on after it had happened.

  These Bible heroes of the faith did have faith that God would do just what He did, and they are named in the well known faith chapter in Hebrews 11. Their faith was sure and unwavering beforehand, but afterwards it would have been even stronger.

  And yet so many of us do the opposite. When we are "on the other side of faith" and God has done something great and/or miraculous for us; many of us still doubt and struggle having faith the next time we need it.

  I would bet that if David had faced another giant, his faith would be even stronger the second time.... he had already had God help him defeat a giant. If the three Hebrew children had been threatened again with a fiery furnace, they may have laughed and taken some food in with them to get charbroiled.

  So why do so many of us quake and have shaky faith when God has helped us in the past? Once God helps us and we are on the other side of faith, the side where we look back and see what God did; it should make our faith stronger.... but I still doubt and fear. I still wonder if God will help me through this crisis. And I am sure others do the same.

   I am slowly learning how patient God is, and that His grace and mercy are so overwhelmingly far beyond anything I can ever understand. As the Bible says, He remembers our frame that we are dust; so I believe He would be even patient in this area of having faith.

 So the next time you are struggling to have faith that God will do something, answer a prayer, work something out.....remember you are already on the other side of faith. Look back and remember what God has already done. Remember He has come through many times before when you had faith, and have it again. He never lets us down.