March 30
Deut 13:1-15:23 | PS 71:1-24 | Prov 12:5-7 | Luke 8:40-9:6
Read the words in Psalm 71:5, "O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O Lord, from childhood." Though the author of this Psalm is not specified, most believe it was from David. This "trust" is what sets people apart. Many openly admit to having no faith. But many, arguably the majority, state they believe, or have faith, but one would never know this by the way they talk or live their lives. David messed up, he sinned, as we all do. Yet through it all he trusted in God. When he wandered, he always came back to God. When he wrongly stepped out on his own, he quickly pulled back and allowed God to lead. This exemplifies what true trust looks like. When one speaks of having faith, but one never bothers to pick up the bible, never prays earnestly, always seems to lean on their own strength, their own ability, their own ability to manipulate their situation, is that faith? One needs to trust that God can work both in the natural and the supernatural. God should not be our last resort when all of our own workings have failed. The true walk with God is just that, it is a daily walk, a real relationship, one based on trust, not simply intellectual assent, or based on the traditions of one's upbringing. We must understand that in this relationship, like all others, sometimes God will say yes, while other times He will say no. We need to trust that His ways are best, even if they depart from what we believe we want or believe we need.
We read of some beautiful examples of trust in Luke 8:40-56. We must understand that in both examples these individuals initially sought other solutions. The woman who was bleeding for twelve years had spent all her money seeking a cure, yet she continued to bleed. This condition not only weakened her physically, as she had to be severely anemic, but due to laws of female bleeding she would have been rendered unclean, similar to a leper, unable to have contact with others or even attend synagogue. We see her trust in action in Luke 8:44, "Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped." She might have been raised religiously, but after her worldly attempts failed, she placed all of her trust in Jesus, and we see Jesus' response in 8:48, “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”" We read of Jairus whose daughter was dying at the age of twelve. He most likely exhausted all of the regular channels: physicians, the local rabbis, etc. all of whom were powerless to help her. We see him step out in faith in 8:41-42, "Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying." On the way it was told to him to not bother Jesus. as it was too late, that his daughter had already died. But we see Jesus' words in 8:50, "But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”" And indeed, she was healed.
The walk of faith is not an easy one. When Jesus sent out his twelve disciples, we read in Luke 9:1-3, "One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes." Jesus was training them to place their trust in Him rather than the things of this world. The truth is we do live in this world and have been trained in the things of this world. We have received some level of education, we are plugged into some news sources, we are influenced by others, and we are called to live our lives on this earth for the time being. But we need to start each day with God, end each day with God, and keep Him alongside throughout the day. The walk of faith calls us to have a walking, breathing relationship. We need Him constantly and need to seek Him frequently. We need to move away from the shallow, weak thing that is the faith that most call faith. Simply giving acknowledgement that you believe in Him, perhaps going to church on occasion or even regularly, reciting some memorized prayers, etc. is not a living faith. No spouse, child, or parent would accept this. He desires a relationship with each of us, the question is whether or not we really want one with Him?
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: