Practical Wisdom from the Word of God

(This is another thought from Sister Sharon Cranford’s time with us. Thanks Sharon.)

Hebrews 11:8 (NKJV) ⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Some people are risk takers. Most of us are not comfortable with risk. The stories we read in the bible are full of risk taking. There is a reason for this. Faith always involves risk. In today’s verse, we read about Abraham. Hebrews 11 is the “hall of fame” of faith. It lists name after name of people who did things that were notable because they were done by faith. A common element is that every one of them involved risk.

The first verse of this chapter lets us know the nature of faith and makes it clear that risk will be involved.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) ¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the evidence that what you cannot see is real. When you trust in or act upon something you cannot see, that is taking a risk. Abraham obeyed God and went to a place that he knew nothing about. He went there because a God that he could not see somehow told him to go there. He did not know what he would find in this new land. He did not know how he would make a living. He did not know if the people would be hostile or friendly. All he knew was that the Lord told him this new land would be his inheritance.

When we read these bible stories, we must remember that they did not live in the world we do. Abraham could not “Google” this new land and find out what it was like. He had not seen pictures of it. It is doubtful that he had ever met anyone from this land. I wonder if many of us would have been willing to obey God when such risk is involved. Yet that is what faith demanded.

Faith is not foolishness. Abraham was not being foolish by leaving his home and going to this new land. Foolishness would be going just for the sake of going. Today we know of people who are “risk takers” that simply do things for the thrill of it. Bungee jumping comes to mind. What possible reason could anyone have for trusting their life to a springy rubber cord? I just do not understand. To me that is simply foolishness. It is risk for the sake of risk. (If you want to do such a thing that is fine. Just do not ask me to join you!)

Any risk taken simply for a thrill is foolish. Sometimes the risk is minimal like roller coasters and sometimes it is not. Mountain climbing comes to mind. I know that there are people who love those kinds of things and I do not mean to be critical. However, it is still foolish. Abraham was not taking a foolish risk.

God told Abraham to go. If Abraham actually heard from God then there is no real risk at all. To the outward eye there looks like risk is involved. However, faith knows that God is real and that if God is involved there is no place more safe than in the will of God. Nevertheless, hearing from God is not an exact science. When faith is your only evidence that what you have heard is true, there is a natural risk. Faith, to be faith, will always require such natural risk.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) ⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. This verse does not say it is hard to please God without faith. This verse says it is impossible to please God without faith. It also makes a statement that I have been stuck on for some time. Those who come to God must believe that God is. What does that really mean?

If we are Christians, we must believe in the existence of God. This verse implies that fact, of course. However, it implies much more. Not only must we believe that God exists but also that he will reward those who seek him.

We read this verse and say, “Yes, Amen. Of course we believe God is.” If we truly believe this statement, everything changes. If we believe this statement when we have no money, having no money is not that big a problem. If we believe this statement when we face sickness, we know that we have a healing God who can help us. If we really believe this statement, there will be no impossibility in life that can defeat us because we know that God is. He will reward us when we seek him. There is no such thing as a question without an answer or a problem without a solution if we believe that God is.

Abraham believed that God was in his circumstance. He believed that God was involved in his life and able to work on his behalf. When the God in whom he believed told him to go to a land he had never seen and that he would receive it as his eventual inheritance that made perfect sense to Abraham. He believed that “God is.”

To those looking on, Abraham was taking a risk. He was leaving the security of what he could see for something he could not see. He was leaving his inheritance in his father’s home for an inheritance he had no evidence even existed except for his faith in the word of an invisible God.

Faith is not really a risk at all if we believe that God is. The problem is coming to the place where we believe that as reality and not theology. We can believe in the principle of God’s existence without believing in the reality of God’s existence for our personal circumstance. Kenneth Hagin called the former “mental assent.” We may mentally assent to the reality of God’s existence, but when “the rubber meets the road”, we do not believe in his existence enough to act on what he says.

Therein lies the problem for those of us who would act in faith. We must believe in the invisible. We must act without natural evidence because we believe that God is. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If we do not have God’s word on a thing, we cannot have faith. To try to act in faith without the Word of God to stand upon is like bungee jumping. It is foolishness. How can I be sure I have the word when I am taking the faith “risk?”

We must understand that God will never ask us to do something that contradicts his written Word. We know that not all circumstances we face are specifically covered in the bible. I believe everything we may face in life is covered in the bible in principle. We must know the bible well enough to know that principles by which God operates. If we do, we will be less likely to be deceived into thinking something is God when it is not.

We must follow God’s voice to be in faith and not foolishness. The written Word of God is important here as well. How can I know God’s voice? I know my wife’s voice because I have been hearing it for 46 years. I am familiar with the sound of her voice. I am also familiar with how she speaks. I know how she puts words together. If someone tells me she spoke to them with a string of curse words, I know they are not telling the truth. She would not speak that way. The more familiar we are with God’s written voice the more readily we will recognize his spoken voice.

We also need to be accountable to someone who knows the voice of God better than we do. I have people that I will ask for advice when I am going to do something by faith that requires some natural risk. The bible tells us there is wisdom in a multitude of counsel. We are not in this alone. We are a body. When the time comes to step out in faith we need to have people we can trust who have stepped out themselves.

When we have done all that is necessary, we will still come to that place in any faith operation that will require we step out into unknown territory just like Abraham did. We will have no evidence that what we believe is real except our faith. I cannot think of a more exciting or safer place to be.