Living by faith
(Rom 1:17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
The phrase “the just shall live by faith” is recorded in four separate passages in the Bible – once in the Old Testament and three times in the New. The message is that we do not always see and know God’s plan and working, nor do we know or understand why things are going the way they are, but we live with confidence in God and not doubt Him in any way.
Present faith is built upon past records of God’s working either in real time in our life or as recorded in Scripture. We know what God has done in the past and we have experienced God’s blessings and working in our life, so we should be able to live by faith in each present situation in the wilderness to satisfy nearly two million people plus livestock. They had experienced the bounty of quail for their meat and manna for food. They saw the glory of God come down upon the tabernacle their built and saw the wrath of God poured out upon those who worshipped the golden calf. Now they are about to spy out the Promised Land and give a report to Moses of what they discover.
But ten of the spies had lost sight of those previous miracles and the God Who performed them. They had a small idea of God. They entered the land and gathered out of the fruit of it so big that it took two men to carry a cluster of grapes on the pole. They also saw the sons of Anak, giants, and the walls that encircled the cities they were to conquer and they felt small in light of these problems.
Two other spies, Joshua and Caleb, went in still rejoicing in the wonders of God. They saw the fruit and the giants and walled cities, but their perspective was completely different. They saw the giants in light of their great God and they did not look so big after all. Listen to their report – “rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” They were living by faith in their great God who said He was for them. Joshua and Caleb knew they all needed faith if they were to be blessed by God and enter and conquer the land – “If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”
The Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey, but it was not without struggles and hardships. Our life as Christians is never promised to be without struggles or hardships. Jesus said that we would have trouble in this life and so we need to trust in Him that He will guide us through and carry us when needed. The problem is we live in a society that wants everything given to them. No one seems to want to work or “sweat” any at all. We will all have giants to conquer in our life and walled cities to overcome, but Jesus promised, “I will never leave you not forsake you.”
We enter this walk by faith and we continue it the same way. We need to close our ears to the critics and pessimists and allow God to show us the way. We either will live by our senses and experience the fruit of the flesh or we will live by faith and experience the fruit of the Spirit. We can either live in Adam or in Christ. Which will it be for you?