Faith of Jesus--III

(Here is part of a talk I gave last Friday evening.)
Here's another aspect of the faith of Jesus. We pray and ask God to help us, to give us certain things—do certain miracles for us. The faith of Jesus tells us that God loves to give us, in response to the prayer of faith, things that he would not grant did we not ask. But even though God loves to give us things, support us, providentially provide for us, we are not the center of the universe. There is more at stake in the world and in the universe than what I want. We have to trust God to do what is right and good for the larger picture since this world is the battle ground between good and evil. Therefore, I might not get what I'd like every time, or even enough of the time to my way of thinking.
Jesus wanted certain things for His life, but He was obedient to the will of God—because He had faith that God knew more than He did and that the best would be worked out accordingly.
I was reading Hebrews 11 the other day thinking about this. The Faith chapter starts out by discussing Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham.
Then it says something interesting:

All these people were still living by faith when they died.

They did not receive the things promised;

they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:14-16)

Did they pray to God for leading? Yes. Did they ask for blessings—yes. And they received many of these blessings. But they still did not get the things that they were told they would receive. Yet they continued on in faith, knowing that God realized the bigger picture and that this would be sufficient.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39, 40).
There was something bigger and greater of which they were a part and they had to trust God to work that out. They had to put their full weight on the promises of God—to know that He knows what He is doing, what is allowed to occur.
That is sometimes a bit unnerving to do.

So when Jesus was in Gethsemane begging God to remove the cup from Him, it was His faith in the fact that God knew the end from the beginning and could work it out right—for the best—with or without his prayers being answered, that He could trust God and say, “nevertheless, thy will be done.” His feelings, His fears and the humanness of His feelings at that time, did not change His knowledge that God would work everything out.

It reminds me of a wonderful anecdote:
Over in Burma, Judson was lying in a foul jail with 32 lbs. of chains on his ankles, his feet bound to a bamboo pole. A fellow prisoner said, "Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of the conversion of the heathen?", with a sneer on his face. His instant reply was, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God." This is the faith of Jesus. Even though things were going badly for him, the work and cause of God were advancing. God was not limited because this saint was in prison.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Hebrews 10: 36 - 39

We serve God in our pain, fear, and confusion, even though we do not fully know what is happening. Even though it looks like God is hurting us or paying no attention to us. We know that God will hold us with a hand that will never let us go. That is the faith of Jesus.

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
His father, working in the yard, noticed the boy and alligator as they moved closer and closer together. In horror, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could. Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father.
It was too late. Just as the child reached his father, the alligator reached the boy. From the dock, the father grabbed his little son by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. An incredible tug-of-war began, between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer, driving by, heard the screams. He raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And on his arms were deep gouges marking the points where his father's fingernails had dug into his flesh, in his effort to hang onto the son whom he loved.The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars.The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter,
'But look at my arms; I have big scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go….’

The faith of Jesus makes us secure in our identity—we know who we are and to whom we belong.
The faith of Jesus helps us in danger and difficult issues to leave the results with God because the faith of Jesus recognizes that we are the apple of God's eye, but still not the center of the universe, the only one in the picture. The faith of Jesus tells us that we are able to submit to circumstances that are not of our choosing and allows us to push forward so that we are not destroyed and we are saved of God. The faith of Jesus allows us to live with the pains that we have because one day we will be able to look back and point to the scars—not the scars from this life that have been painful: a lost mate, dreams that could never be realized, children that turned away from God, our physical limitations and difficult circumstances. But we will be able to look back and see all the times and places where God would not let go of us. Because we know He is holding us still.
This is the faith of Jesus.