Quandary of Faith Revisited

The Quandary of Faith!   Its so hard to trust when something seems insurmountable! Having faith is scary when it means doing something different than what you have always done/known or changing something in order to grow with God. The trick really is grace and patience - why are those 2 things so challenging??? :) 


"Trust" in the unknown is hardly ever easy!  Most especially with faith in unseeable God!  

"Scary" is part of life's adventure into better! 

"Patience" is always good.  Remembering how God's "grace" has been active in your life is better!  

Your comment reminds me of the Bible story where God asked Abraham to take his only son, who he had waited so long for, and offer him as a sacrifice on a pile of burning sticks. (see below)  I don't believe that God tests us anymore; however he does ask us to do things that seem impossible. 

Sometimes God's sense of humor does not seem so funny! 

What I am thinking is that God knows our abilities better than we do.  He can see past our comfort zones of everyday ordinary stuff.  Beside all of that, God promises to provide us with whatever we need to do what he calls us to do.  The glitch is that we don't see all of that.  Our imaginations, and knowledge of who and what we are, is so limited by what we think we know.  Our life experience, and how we have planned our life, form our thinking.  All of that becomes a stumbling block to any other possibilities.  But that doesn't mean that doing, or thinking, something new and different is impossible.  Stepping outside of our comfort zone can sometimes gift us with a richer, more rewarding, life.  

The word you used is "insurmountable"!  I don't believe that concept is among God's wide vocabulary.  We are told "nothing is impossible with God."  I truly believe that!  What is insurmountable is your ability to imagine!  I can say that with confidence because my imagination is too!  But what I have learned over the last 33 years is the more I realize who  I am, and what I have become; is nothing like who I was and what I had planned for my life when I graduated from high school.  And yes!  There were many times of doubt, challenges and pain along the way.  But here is the blessing: When you are as chronologically bless as me (-:) you will be able to look back and remember all of the hard times; and see how God lead you into a better and more meaningful place.  I am sure that you can do that even today!  You can remember a time when you thought you couldn't!  Couldn't handle what life was handing you!  But, you did!  Right?

1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 

2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." 

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 

5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you." 

6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 

7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 

8 Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together. 

9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 

10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 

12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 

13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 

14 So Abraham called that place "The Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." Gen. 22:1-14f)