Live by Faith

"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

1 Corinthians 2:9

      Whatever is seen is not all that is meant to be seen.  Our physical eyes cannot fully grasp the complete comprehensiveness of the spiritual realm.   God does most of His work behind the scene.  If we limit the scope of what we see, what is immediately visible, we will most definitely get an inaccurate reading of the circumstance or situation.  We as believers must live by faith.  "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 . We have all heard the saying...faith of a mustard seed...or faith to move mountains.  These describe little amounts of faith and big amounts of faith.   It's a good thing that we should have both because at times we can feel that our faith is lacking and is the smallest tidbit there.  Barely hanging on by a thread and yet there are times when our faith is huge and we are able to say to that mountain be moved.   I think that many times most of us fall in the small faith proportions.  We look at the circumstances and our faith shrinks.  We look at the situation in front of us and it shrinks some more.  It's not that it is not there.  It's just really, really tiny.   Our heart knows that God is working, but our brains have a hard time wrapping itself around it.  

      I began by reading I Kings 18 today.  Elijah is prophesying to King Ahab that there will not be rain or dew upon the ground for years except by his word. Then Elijah is sent by the word of the Lord into the wilderness and is told to hide himself beside a brook called Cherith.  God tells Elijah that He will provide for Elijah through ravens.  Now ravens may not be our resource of choice but the Lord used the ravens to provide bread and meat in the morning and evening and Elijah would drink from the brook.  But as it would happen, the brook dried up because there had been no rain.  But the Lord spoke to Elijah once again and told him to go to a widow in Zarephath and she will provide for you.  So Elijah does as the Lord told him and when he arrives he sees the widow gathering sticks.  Now Elijah asks her for a drink and some bread too.  Well, the widow replies that she has no bread but only a handful of flour and a bit of oil in a jar.  She was gathering the sticks to prepare a meal for herself and her son. She believes it to be her last meal. In essence, she is telling Elijah, you've come to the wrong place I have nothing to share.   But Elijah says, "Do not fear! go and make the bread and bring it to me first and then make some for yourselves. For the Lord says, the flour will not be exhausted, nor the jar of oil be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth." (1Kings 18:14) . So the widow did as she was told and they ate for many days.  

      The story continues but this part of the passage spoke to me.  The widow is focused on the fact that she doesn't have much.  She is seeing that they are going to starve and die.  She is looking on the little bit.  BUT the little bit became a lot. This is God's way...preparing unfathomable things, even when only the slightest hints of them can be barely detected.  He is preparing.  He is working behind the scenes. He is crafting supernatural downpours behind the tiniest of clouds.  We must trust the Father is able to come through at that perfect moment no matter how far removed the possibility seems from our current vantage point.  Many times I have told others, Don't worry, God will show up just when he needs too.   I need to follow my own advice.  I need to have the faith of a mustard seed even if that is all I have to know that God will show up just when He needs too.  

      "For we walk by faith not by sight--"

2 Corinthians 5:7