Read:
Proverbs 3:21-26
Reflect:
“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:25-26, NKJV
Living in a messy world is filled with fears when we have messy minds with false expectations appearing real. Pandemics, wars, climate change, political oppression and spiritual persecution are the inevitable consequences of sinful human beings living in a godless world. We cannot promote true health when medical care is commercialized. We cannot have justice when the law is corrupted. We cannot have peace when political leaders use fear and greed to control the people. The world is messy when we live messy lives worshiping the idols of money, sex and power and enslaved by F.O.M.O. – the fear of missing out.
To live in such messy times of fake news, misinformation and disinformation, we need to guard clear thinking and common sense with our life. We cannot lose sight of them if we want to be fit and attractive and keep our souls alive and well. To be able to travel safely, take afternoon naps without a worry and enjoy a good night’s sleep.1 However, the reality of life is that tough and troubling times are always ahead of us. We need to train for godliness through the spiritual disciplines to feed on God’s Word instead of wasting time arguing over godless ideas and old wives tales.2 The good news is that our Heavenly Father is with us in our messy world – we can fear less by putting our confidence in Him:
“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.”3
Courage is not the absence of fear but the faith to embrace fear. In our modern world, our faith is rooted in science. Science represents the centuries-long human effort to discover objective truths which historians have described as the “Greek Miracle” – the series of game-changing insights and discoveries about the physical world made by extraordinary persons such as Thales of Miletus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The ancient Greeks postulated the idea of a universe which Pythagoras called the kosmos.4 Science provides us with the faith to understand our universe but not the faith to find meaning and purpose in life.
Human beings are made in the image of God and we know in our hearts that there is a spiritual dimension of life that is beyond space and time. We hunger and thirst to understand the cosmos with a metaphysical language and not just with a temporal-physical language. This is the Miracle of Christmas – the astounding revelation that the Creator of the universe is not at war with us but that God loves us freely and unconditionally and His favor is not for sale. 5 Love came down at Christmas so that we can have faith in God as our Heavenly Father.
Jesus was fully human when he was born as a baby in Bethlehem, when he struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane and when he suffered death on the cross at Calvary. Jesus was fully divine when he healed the sick, forgave the cripple and adulterous woman, when he stilled the storm and when he raised the dead. Quantum physics affirms the truth demonstrated by the life of Jesus – that we are not living in a world in which real objects are half one thing and half a completely opposite thing. For example a light ray and an electron are each fully a wave and fully a particle.6 Likewise, Jesus is fully human as well as fully divine.
Science and the Bible together can help us see that there is a way more to life than meets the eye. When we live by human wisdom that “seeing is believing,” we will be blind to the realities that exist in heaven and on earth. Science, together with the Bible, helps us to see in the dark – to catch sight of truths that the universe and us are very special. There are worlds beyond our wildest imagination waiting to be explored and experienced in this life as well as the next:7
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”8
Our Christian faith is a journey into the unknown future where we will face unknown troubles, terrors and tribulations. It is an exciting adventure that requires the courage of faith to find the light out of the darkness that we will encounter. To be fully human is to embrace suffering and to be fully divine is to forgive and be the channels of God’s healing grace and peace. God loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. God’s new and everlasting covenant through Jesus Christ is that He will faithfully reward His people for their suffering.9
God has given us His new and everlasting covenant of unfailing love through His Son, Jesus Christ. I need to respond in faith by surrendering my will to Christ. Through silence I receive new life as I open myself to God’s Word and hear Jesus calling me, “Come to me!” Silence is filled with God’s presence when we remove ourselves from the sights and sounds of life. Michael Guillen saw this as the spiritual equivalent of the quantum vacuum. The great and hidden secrets of silence are found when we immerse ourselves in nothingness. In the solitude of the sacred space we hear the voice of God, the Creator of the universe.9
We do not need faith to believe what we can see. Faith is believing what we do not see. Faith is not blind but rooted in the truths that God has revealed in His Word and by His Spirit. Faith that comprises only of beliefs in our minds is dead. Faith that is seen in our actions every day is alive. When we see the hand of God by faith through the discipline of centering prayer, we will have the courage to prove His faithfulness as we walk by faith and not by sight:
“By faith we see the hand of God
In the light of creation’s grand design
In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness
Who walk by faith and not by sight.”10
Respond:
Lord, grant me the courage of faith to love more and fear less in a messy world.
Reframe:
- What are the fears that keep me from clear thinking and common sense?
- What does it mean to live by faith and not by sight?
- How does the practice of silence help me to experience the love of God?
Song of Praise:
By Faith
SDG
Notes:
- Proverbs 3:21-24, MSG
- 1 Timothy 4:6-13, NLT
- Proverbs 3:25-26, NKJV
- Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 13-14
- Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 18
- Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 44
- Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 69
- 1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT
- Isaiah 61:8, NLT
- Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 99
- By Faith, Keith & Kristyn Getty
Reflections On Following Christ 