Faith to live and faith to die
It was only a couple of weeks ago as they shared their hearts in class that she said something that caught my attention. “When I had my tumor several years ago,” she said, “I retreated for three days.”
For three whole days, she wrestled with her own mortality, unable to look at or speak to her husband and children. For three long days, she wrestled with God.
Looking back now, this is what she said: “I had the faith to die, but I just didn’t have the faith to be sick.” And with that sentence, a light went on.
I know what she means, don’t you? As a Christian, as one who walks with God and hears His voice, death, for me, has lost its sting. I no longer fear it like I did as a child. It’s the living down here…
I have the faith to die, but I don’t always have the faith to live. The faith to walk through the hard things. The faith to say, “Yes, Lord,” and embrace what comes. The faith that believes that no matter what, He is good and all is well and all will BE well. Always.
It’s not the dying so much that we need the grace and the faith to bear. It’s the living.
Just this morning, I read this Psalm: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.” Stop and consider…
He continues. “There is a river…God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.” Drinking in the cadence of these ancient words, I hear His voice: “God is in the midst of her (and here you can add your name). She (Rhonda) shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.”
And then the key, the secret to living in the hard things. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” Stop and consider…
This is how we do it. This is where we find the faith and the grace to live and not die. We know Who is with us. We believe – we firmly plant our feet on this rock – that the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Therefore, my friends, we shall not be moved.
Do you, too, need faith to live? Need reassurance that all is well and all will be well? There is a river; there is a refuge. Run (don’t walk) to Him and there find strength.