Three Obstacles to Faith

We’re told in the scriptures that because Abraham believed and trusted and had faith in the LORD it was credited to him as righteousness.  Likewise we’re told, our faith in god makes us righteous in His eyes, it brings us closer to Him and is the mechanism for our salvation.  But let’s be honest.  We’re all of us only human, and there are things that make keeping faith difficult.  So let’s talk about some of them, and about how to get around them.

Courtesy of Valerie Like

The Obstacles.

1. Life: life throws cruveballs at us. We pray and pray, and work and strive and then one day all our plans are out the window.  Something completely unexpected and unforseen leaves us sitting in the mud wondering “what in the world just happened?”  These are moments where we think to ourselves, “what kind of God does this to me?”  “What kind of God let’s this happen?”  It can be failing that test you studied so hard for, or it could be hurricane Katrina, but the end result is the same.
2. Other beliefs: I don’t just mean Islam, Buddhism or Taoism (or any other ism) but other Christian beliefs as well.  There are plenty of beliefs out there that (regardless of any question of validity) have very ardent followers who are very eager to share their beliefs, and the easiest thing to do, is to poke holes in your faith before filling those holes with their own.
3. Knowledge: Now I can dig real deep here and talk to you about Cosmological Mass Distribution as pertaining to Time Zero, or the relationship between Archeological records and Biblical Redaction under Josiah’s reform, but that’s just too much for me to think about before 10am… who am I kidding, it’s just too much to think about.  The point is that information, knowledge without any limits can be as damaging to faith as doubt.

The Solutions

1. A Community of believers – get people who share your faith around you.  When you come against an obstacle take it back to this community who can help you through it or around it.
2. Prayer – God is greater than your doubt or disbelief.   Ask Him to take care of it for you.
3. Wisdom – I don’t just mean seeing beyond the surface situation, although that is part of it, but I’m really talking about God’s supernatural wisdom.  The sudden insight of understanding that makes everything so much better or easier.  The right words from the right person and just the right time.

Notice how the solutions are so much simpler than the problems?  That’s because God is in the solution and with Him on our side, everything is easy.  That means that next time someone talks about a natural disaster as a sign of Evangelical Eschatology with historical or dispensational support…you have three ways of keeping hope and faith.