True Faith in Yahweh

by on October 15, 2020

Evidently

(#286 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

www.sufferwell.org

To substitute what satisfies in the moment, regardless of established truth, has been the way of mankind from the beginning. Trading facts for feelings is littered throughout man’s history. It evidently boils down to an inability to believe Yahweh and His Sovereignty, thus uncovering a primitive distrust in Him, His methodologies, and His commandments.

There is a heavy price to pay physically and spiritually for this lack of faith. Disbelief first ages a man spiritually, and we don’t mean that it matures him. It makes him old, as in degenerated. And how does this affect his spiritual life? It traps him in the same bad doctrines that caused the dis-ease in the first place. We think in modern vernacular you would say it like this: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” And as you have learned so often in these devotions, the physical shadow always reflects the spiritual reality.

There is a pattern that accompanies the choices of distrust and disbelief of the great I Am; it was established in the Garden and it leads to death and labor! “If you eat from it, you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17); “The ground is cursed because of you. Through hard work you will eat food that comes from it every day of your life.” (Genesis 3:17) You can resist this truth, but kicking against the goads is futile (Acts 26:14).

The sad thing is that history will not heal this issue for mankind. It has to be a personal choice, not a historical one. All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied. (Ecclesiastes 6:7) If history could have done it, Cain’s example of his own effort yielding bad fruit would have taught us this lesson (Genesis 4:3-7). Instead of heeding the warning; “sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it,” (v. 7) he watered the ground with his brother’s blood. He was therefore cursed “from the ground” (v. 11) which would forever yield bad fruit (Genesis 4:10-12).

If history could heal us, the Exodus would have taught us a lesson. Forty-two campsites named in Numbers 33 (plus 17 others mentioned elsewhere in the Torah), all stopping grounds before crossing the Jordan. There was lots of setting up and breaking down over 40 years, all those extra years and extra stops because of distrust and therefore, disobedience. Who did the Mighty One swear would never enter His place of rest? He was talking about those who didn’t obey Him. So, we see that they couldn’t enter His place of rest because they didn’t believe. (Hebrews 3:18-19)

Evidently, knowing the history does not matter. The pattern continues; and you are participating in it. You might be experiencing it right now, the temptation to choose feelings over facts; satisfaction in the moment over truth and reality; disobedience that leads to death and labor over trusting His Sovereignty. The remedy is also in you. It is a choice you can make today, a choice to believe everything about Him. Much of the faith to do so is a gift that has already been deposited in you. The final piece is your choice. And the opportunity arises when your feelings contradict your faith. Choose this day whom you will serve; facts or feelings? As for us, we will proclaim as mandated; “I will serve Yahweh!” (Joshua 24:15)

“Turn to Me when I warn you. I will generously pour out My Spirit for you. I will make My words known to you.” (Proverbs 1:23)



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *