Faithful on Fridays Blog

Wavering Faith

Perspective is an interesting word with quite a provocative meaning. When you consider relevant data, all the facts concerning a situation, you gain perspective. It’s an overview, a panorama of details, however, perspective can be skewed or slanted and we no longer have the correct perspective. When our emotions get involved our viewpoint can be skewed, our faith can waver, and we lose God’s perspective.

… But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:16b

Did God really lead me here? Can God be trusted? Are His promises true every time? I’ve been there; I know those unsure feelings and questions. One way to get your perspective accurate again is to consider some of the  Bible characters and their lives. Sounds crazy? Well, hear me out.

Consider Abraham. God chose him despite the fact that he was an Iraqi, a pagan with many gods. Yet God’s perspective saw all the ‘relevant data’ in this man’s life and declared him righteous because of his faith. If you read the account from Genesis 12, you’ll see it didn’t take long for Abraham to waver. A famine in the land brought a skewed viewpoint of his situation, his perspective was slanted, consequently, he made a bad decision. 

In order to save his own life he lied to Pharaoh saying Sarah, his wife, was his sister and handed her over to Pharaoh for ‘whatever’. What a man of faith! Abraham took matters into his own hands, played God, and almost lost his wife to another man (saying nothing of how Sarah felt). You’d think Abraham would’ve corrected his viewpoint or perspective of God but we read later that Abraham looked again at his relevant data, which was limited, and played God again. This time the result was Ishmael (Gen. 16), a son by his servant. 

What’s my point here? You and Abraham have this in common: your perspectives are limited. If you are in a difficult situation, a famine, so-to-speak, remember that God alone has the ability to see all of the relevant data. God alone has the panoramic view of your life and He desires you to stand strong in faith as you wait on Him. 

He says, “continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. Colossians 1:23a 

Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 

You know what’s really great here? Rom. 4:20-21 says this, “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises.” 

God’s perspective is that Abraham never wavered at His promises; he wavered in his responses but not the promises. Let that be your perspective.