Faith like a Child

As summer time is quickly coming to an end I find myself acutely aware of how soon my school is supposed to start (Still waiting for all the details). I can't stop thinking about all the things we hoped we could get done and all we wanted to save up this summer. Crystal and I keep talking about it and sometimes I feel very discouraged about whether God is trying to tell me the timing is not right or something. I think about how crazy it seems to drop everything and go off to school with no idea of where the money will come from. I know the church says they will help, but I don't know how much and I am assuming that is referring towards tuition. If it was just me that would be fine but with a family I need a real income as well. Thinking about all this can get very frustrating….then I feel like I just don't have enough faith which just gets me angry at myself.

This week for Sunday School we were covering some material that got me thinking. One of the scriptures we were discussing was from the book of Judges.

Judges 6:13-16 ( NIV )
¹³"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." 14The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."16The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

The more I read this passage and others like it I started to realize how when God wants to use us for something, He tends to stack the odds against us. Look at Gideon. As he said he was the weakest member of the weakest clan in his tribe. I mean we are talking about the kid that always got picked last for kickball on a co-ed team. It's no wonder the poor guy had doubts and was more than a little nervous. Like Jeff, my Sunday School teacher, said….imagine if God told you that He wanted you to go and single handedly defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan and bring our soldiers home. Any sane person would be asking more than their share of questions. However, look at verse 16; ¹⁶The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." God does not call us to do something and then hang us out to dry. He leads us through it and see's us through to the end. He also provides us everything we need to accomplish the task He has set before us. God did the same thing with Moses. Moses was raised as a Prince of Egypt. He most likely knew the full complement of the Egyptian army, how they were trained, and their skill in battle. He probably led many soldiers in campaigns for Egypt. He also had seen the Hebrew slaves and knew how broken they were. He knew that none of them had skill in battle or any weapons to speak of so when God told him to deliver His people out of Egypt I am sure he was having a different strokes moment, "Whatchu talkin about…." But God told Moses the same thing He told Gideon.

Exodus 3:12 ( NIV ) 12And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."
We find the same thing with Joshua when he took over the mantle of leadership after Moses died;

Joshua 1:1-9 ( NIV ) 1After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide:
2"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.
3I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
4Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.
5No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Time and time again God tells us and then shows us that He will be with us carry us through whatever task He sets before us. So here I am with all this scripture that records all different people that God called to His service and just like me looked at the obstacles in their path and wondered how on earth it would ever happen. It also shows how God stacked obstacles so big in front of them that they could never, ever do it on their own. In my head I know God does this because not only does it show how great He is and how He can accomplish anything even using such poor tools as us. So, as I started asking myself whether this is what God is doing for me, building my faith through exercise the same way you build a muscle, by working it out and stretching its limits, Alyssa overheard Crystal and I on the phone talking about money. We were discussing where it was going to come from and how we would make it stretch to cover everything. Well, Alyssa asked Crystal, "Why are you worried about money? God will give us what we need." It was like WOW. It's one thing to know it from a intellectual knowledge of scripture but to here it voice so faithfully from the mouth of a child makes you focus on the truth of it. Luke 18:16 ( NIV ) 16But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Oh that we all had the complete faith of little children. I know some people will think I am crazy, but I believe God will see us through. I have no idea how, but I believe he will and I look forward to the day that we can look back and thank God for the way He provided for us and taught us how to trust Him.