Blind Faith Revisited

As I am setting up this new blog, praying over it, and seeking other Godly women to post along with me, I wanted to share some old posts I shared a couple of years ago.

~~*~~Blind Faith ~~*~~

This morning, while reading in the book of John, I was struck by a certain passage. To give you some background, Jesus had just fed the multitude with the fish and loaves of bread and had crossed over to the other side of the Sea.

When the people realized that Jesus had gone, they went to find Him. Once they found Him, a conversation ensues about eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood. Now, this concept was obviously too much for many of the disciples and John 6:66 (think there might have been some significance in the number?) says that "from that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him".

I don't know about you, but this probably would have confused me! I like to believe that I would be able to blindly follow anything that Jesus said, but I often find myself questioning things even now. I guess that means that I should have more mercy when thinking of the silly Israelites wandering in the desert.

But the disciples that Jesus had chosen, even JUDAS, said "Lord, who will we go to? YOU are the one with the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that YOU are the Holy One of God!" Now that's deep! Especially when someone is telling you that you should "eat the flesh and drink the blood". That must have sounded pretty odd at that time!

Of course, we now know what Jesus was referring to when He said that we should partake of the body and the blood. I am sure that I probably would have pestered Him saying, "but seriously, what does that mean??"

Such a stark contrast to the Israelites in the desert. Both groups saw miracles. The Israelites saw the plagues God placed on the Egyptians, the cloud by day and fire by night to guide their way, and the parting of the red sea just to name a FEW. And the disciples and crowds witnessed healing of the lame and feeding MULTITUDES on just a small lunch of fish and bread with 12 BASKETS left over.

In my opinion, the Israelites saw much bigger and flashier signs, and yet strayed so often from their faith. In many ways I myself can see those same qualities in my character, though I pray that I will have more the faith of a mustard seed. What kind of faith do you have? Will you trust when things seem completely incomprehensible?

I pray today that I will have the faith and strength to stand and to follow Christ, no matter what the cost and no matter how crazy it may sound to me at the time. The bottom line is that Christ can do ANYTHING!

Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that "the righteous will live by faith".

And finally, I love the NIV translation of Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I have faith that "HE who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"

To me, this includes teaching me to have faith; teaching me to trust in him. I can't wait to see what He has in store for me and my family. One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment in Christ Jesus. We are either praising Him or learning from Him and then praising Him!