even though, yet…
No distrust made Abraham waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4.20–21)
Faith means taking and embracing God’s word as literally true. How do we become Christians? We take Jesus’ offer and promise to be completely, wholly, and literally true — redundancy for emphasis! How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? We believe Jesus’ promise that God would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him to be completely, wholly, and literally true — again, redundancy for emphasis! How do we find victory over sin and temptation? How do we know there is life beyond death? How do we know that God’s justice will prevail? Faith takes and embraces God’s promises because we perceive that they are much more than “warm thoughts for anxious lives.” We trust them because we trust the faithfulness of God.
Faith is also a living thing that is strengthened in adversity. Richard Wurmbrand, whose faith endured fourteen years of isolation and torture in a communist prison after surviving a Holocaust death camp, said that faith could be expressed in two words: “though” and “yet.” Job was able to say, “Though He may slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13.15) Can we truly say about your life and our relationship with God: “Though this may happen, yet I will trust Him?” Though my prayers seem unanswered, yet I will trust Him? Though I face huge disappointments, I will trust Him? Though I grieve, yet will I trust in Him?
If I am honest with God, myself, and you, the truth is that the persistence "the “yet” requires of me may slowly chip away at my expectancy. However, in time, I discovered that my expectancy was endangered because I was focusing on the “what” I believed for rather than the “Who” I was placing my faith in. Sometimes my “yet” comes easily — even triumphantly— other times it is expressed through grief, disappointment, anger, and feelings of futility. Common to all, my focus remains on the “Who,” not the “what.”
Faith, like hope and love, is not a momentary shot of spiritual adrenalin. Faith equips and encourages us to answer the call of Christ regardless of circumstances. It encourages us to trust in the veracity of His promises throughout our lifetime. Faith is the distinct attribute that allows His followers to remain focused on God’s future while living with integrity, compassion, assurance, and vision in the present. Abraham and Sarah’s “though” and “yet” were quite staggering when we consider that God promised them a son when Abraham was seventy–six years old and Sarah was sixty–six. They had to wait twenty–four years for God’s promise to come true!
Is there an “even-though……. yet-will-I-hope-in-Him” situation in your life that you need to (re)present to the Lord? There is no better time than now to do so….
