Thoughts on Faith

I have a plaque in my office that reads “Faith is not believing God can, it is knowing that God will.” It has got me thinking a little bit. What do we KNOW God WILL do? Is that not presumptuous? I think it’s fine if the statement is portraying truths that we know about God from the scripture….He will deliver us, protect us, see us through & have what is best for us, etc. But I’m afraid it can be read in a way that promotes false and romanticized ideas about who God is. Not that I understand Him myself, but I don’t believe we can ask for anything we want or even things we feel we need, pray about it, believe enough that God will do it and have it automatically accomplished for us. This idea puts too much power in our hands and completely takes away the sovereignty of God. 

Even Jesus asked for the cup to be removed from him when faced with the cross. Unjustly sentenced to one of the most excruciating and humiliating forms of death, if there was a way out of it in God’s will he wanted to take it and he of all people deserved God's taking it away, but Jesus did not expect that God would certainly take it away. He knew if God's will was different than his own he would follow it, even to the cross. I think the plaque would be better worded “Faith is knowing that God can, but trusting Him when He doesn’t.” 

There are too many tragedies that God could fix that He chooses not to and too many paths that seem good that He says no to. I would hate to cause a weakening of faith in someone who reads it and portrays it in the wrong light. So, even though it’s cute and matches the color theme of my office and can be read the right way, I think I will take it down. Praise be to God Almighty, the author and perfector of our faith!