When I was living in Port Harcourt, I went visiting a pastor friend at his church office. His secretary told me he had just stepped out and would be back soon. I decided to wait. While waiting, I received a practical lesson in simple faith. It was faith simplified.
A young woman who was visibly disturbed walked in with her daughter who was probably in her teens. You could vow that the daughter was her younger sister. The woman had an envelope in her hands, and she asked my friend’s secretary if she could drop the envelope at the altar.
After receiving an answer in the affirmative, leaving her daughter with us, she proceeded to the altar where she knelt and began to pray. We were seated at the back of the church hall.
Shortly, her daughter began to cry and then stopped. Also, from the distance, we could hear the woman’s intermittent sobs. Taken by the unusual scenario, the secretary not knowing who they were, she was compelled to call the young girl whom she asked in quick succession: Who is that woman? Is she your sister? What is the matter? She replied, “She is my mother. I do not know (what the matter is).” She seemed to have taken an oath of non-disclosure, so the secretary sent her back to her seat.
A few moments later, the woman herself came to us at the back of the hall looking contented. Her visage was completely different than it was when she initially walked in. It was peaceful!
A little conversation ensued between her and the secretary. Please, is this your sister? “No, she is my daughter.” What is the problem? She responded to the questioning, “There is nothing to discuss. The matter is now in God’s hands!” Wow! I thought within myself.
What I interpreted the woman to be saying was, ‘I have handed the matter over to God, therefore it is a done deal: signed, sealed and delivered. End of discussion!’ Magana yakare! Our Hausa brothers would say in finality. Do you remember the song, “Cast your burdens onto the Lord and leave them there?”
The incident reminds me of instances in which our Lord Jesus would respond to someone’s demonstration of faith, declaring with amazement, “I have never seen such faith in Israel. Go! Your faith has made you whole.” Many of such people were non-Israelites who were not raised in the culture or schooled in the religion of the Jews.
When last did you pray like that? When was the last time you immediately got up from your place of prayer or of pouring your heart before the Lord, having the assurance of faith, the conviction that your matter was settled, even though you had not seen any physical results?
Faith is simple. It is simply taking God at His word. It requires no deep knowledge of theology or a degree in Biblical studies. None of Jesus’ disciples was a theology graduate. God never intended the exercise of faith to be complexity or to be the product of years of extensive schooling in religion. Nevertheless, we have complicated it.
There are words and phrases that further express the simplicity of faith: to trust, to depend upon; to rely on; to cling to and to believe. It is simply taking God at His word.
It reminds me of the lyrics in a once-popular song, “God said it… I believe it… That settles it…” This should not just be another of the songs we sing in church to entertain ourselves and hopefully to amuse God.
God wants us to trust Him. It amazes Him when our words and actions demonstrate that we do not take Him at His words. That is what we do when we doubt Him or lack faith.
Faith simplified is the uncomplicated practice or exercise of what we are certain it is that God has said to us. True faith is manifest in corresponding action.
I think of Abraham, who is the father of our faith. God called him to leave the comfort of his people and country and “set out to a place I will show you”. Abraham began the journey to a place he did not even know the name nor the location.
I have always believed, and I still believe, that if you are going nowhere you will certainly get there. Where? Nowhere!
However, friend, if God has asked you to pack your bags, you had better start packing! We know the end of Abraham: he left a progeny and legacy of which the entire human race is now beneficiary.
It is time we moved away from endless debates about what faith is or what it is not. Most of that has cogged the wheels of our faith. There is too much silt, so we need to ‘scrub our brains’ and our hearts and move on to faith simplified- having confident trust in what God has said and making it evident in our lives.
Faith is not blind or stupid. It is not myopic or presumptuous. It rests on a sure foundation- God’s immutable WORD. Upon what or who does your exercise of faith rest?
Friends let us begin to trust God once again. He is trustworthy. He has not changed.
Faith simplified: If God has said it, then it is a done deal! End of discussion!
Thank you. Do not forget to keep Living, Loving and Learning.
References: Magana yakare in Hausa language means, ‘end of discussion’ or the talk has ended.