Has your faith in God, in yourself, in your peers been tested often enough for you to develop the “core strength,” that produces the inner strength of character we need to do make good choices when our peers are making bad choices? Has your faith in God been tested enough times to give you the courage to take an unpopular stand in order to serve the greater good of us all and not just for a few?
During this divine opportunity for tremendous personal growth, our faith in God, our faith in ourselves, and our faith in humanity will be tested beyond belief. According to God’s living Word, the testing of our faith will produce patience, or maturity, depending on which translation of the Bible you’re reading. Will the testing of our faith produce pain? Most definitely.
“A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.”
How much faith in God do we need to stare into the menacing face of Adversity without fainting? How much faith in God and in ourselves do we need to step out of the sinking boat that our fears, our self-imposed limitations, our traditions, our petrified paradigms, our anger, our bitterness, our bigotry, our hypocrisy, our hatred built?
How much faith do we need to walk on the water of God’s promises long enough to do what you and your peers still honestly believe is an impossibilty for people with great weaknesses to achieve? According to the Scriptures, faith absent any tangible, empirical evidence of works is “dead.” The Scriptures also teach me that, “without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” It’s surprising to me that God only requires us to have faith the size of a teeny tiny mustard seed.
It’s intriguing to me that not once have I seen an instance where God required our faith in Him to be any larger than a mustard seed. We can ask God to help “our unbelief.” I’ve seen it written in my Bible where we can ask God to “strengthen” our faith and to “increase” our strength. But I haven’t seen it written anywhere in the Scriptures that God will increase the “size” of our faith. Have you? If I’ve missed something, please let me know.
Just how long this particular period of personal growth and great tribulation will last depends upon our individual, and collective, ability to choose our battles and the paths we walk, the people we listen to for counsel, the company we keep wisely. But how does one acquire the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to do so? How does one who doesn’t know better learn how to do better?
It wasn’t until I stopped standing on the sidelines in my pin-striped three piece suits, put on the proper attire to do spiritual battle, and stepped up to the home plate of my own personal responsibilities that I experienced the greatness of God’s faithfulness. It wasn’t until I started swinging my bat and striking out more times than I connected with the balls thrown at me did I gain the insight needed to hit my first home run.
The more times I stepped up to the plate and participated in the ball game, the more I learned about myself and my opponents. Did I ever get hit by the balls thrown at me? Yes. Did it hurt? Most definitely. But it was while I was standing at the home plate of my greatest opportunities for growth that I found the elusive answers I sought.
As evidenced by my Bio, many of my life’s most meaningful experiences were painful. Despite all the books I read, all the seminars I attended, all the eloquent 3 point sermons I listened to by profound, charismatic preachers over the years, God tested my faith in Him. I learned to trust God absent any reservations after enduring the character building lessons of life that produced tremendous seasons of personal growth.
Whenever God graciously gifted me with an opportunity for growth, it always surprised me to discover that my eyes never met the greatness of God’s faithfulness during brief seasons of “sunny-side-up days.” Only during extended periods of “sunny-side-down days” did I discover the silver linings in the dark clouds that blow into our lives whenever Adversity strikes.
Over the years and through all the tears I shed in the darkness of my own despair, I’ve learned more while participating in Adversity’s uncomfortable, uncompromising, classroom than I ever did while comfortably standing in the spotlight of Success. Weeping did indeed endure for a night. But joy always came in the morning.
Come morning, I felt relieved to discover that God didn’t require as much faith from me as I thought to please Him. If you’ve been encouraged today, please let me know.
© Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
