Faith Isn't Easy

If you have a heartbeat, you know what it’s like to get discouraged and doubt that you’re in the right place or doing the right thing.  It’s a natural human response to hardship and difficulty.  It happens to even the strongest people of faith.

In one of today’s readings from For the Love of God, we find ourselves in the midst of the Exodus.  In Chapter 14, the Israelites are making their escape from Egypt after God has miraculously made a way for them when there seemed to be no way.  Pharaoh has sent his entire army – all of his horses, chariots and troops – to pursue the seemingly helpless and hapless Israelites as they fled Egypt.

A curious thing happened in v.v. 17&18 in Chapter 13 –

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt."  So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

God wasn’t making things easy for them.  But there was a purpose in His ways, just as there always is.

As the Egyptians got closer and closer, the Israelites were losing hope.  Israel’s situation was so dire that they accused Moses, the man whom God had chosen to lead them, of bringing them out of Egypt and into the desert to die.  It was so bad that they cried out in v.12, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.” 

After all that God had done to miraculously deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh – through the plagues and the Passover – in their moment of discouragement and fear, they had forgotten the incredible power of God at work among them.  Not only that, but they had forgotten the incredible love that God had for them. 

We might read this story and think, “Man, are they stupid.  How could they not see that God had things under control?”  But the truth is, you and I are prone to do the same things. 

Yesterday was supposed to be a bad day weather wise for us in the Pittsburgh area.  Early forecasts last week said that we might get up to 20 inches of snow.  As the week ended and the weekend began, the snow totals got lower, but we were still on track for 8-12 inches of snow to fall throughout Sunday. 

We woke up yesterday to snow covered roads and snow coming down at a pretty good clip.  Things looked bad.  As I drove to the movie theater for church, I began having doubts.  “Should we have cancelled worship?”  “Will we be able to get home?”  “What’s our offering going to be like today?  Will we even get enough to cover the theater rent?”  “I’m going to be preaching to the sound of crickets.”

My concern began growing into discouragement.  The snow continued to fall.  A small number of people trickled in.  Even though we start worship at 10 AM – okay, 10:05 most Sundays – most folks don’t arrive until 9:55.  I gazed out the windows of the theater lobby towards the mostly empty parking lot and thought, “Well, this is going to be a rough one today.”  I was discouraged.  I had doubts about what God could or would do in our midst.

Before the Israelites saw the Egyptians advancing, God made this promise to Moses in v.4 – “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.  But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” 

God has his people right where he wanted them, although they couldn’t see it at the time.  But more importantly, God had a plan in place to work for his glory in the situation.  This is an incredible promise that every Christian has – God always works for his glory in every situation.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

That promise comes with an important caveat.  We’ve got to love him.  But the promise is still there – in every situation we face in life, no matter how discouraging or impossible it seems, when we love God and are walking with Jesus, He works for our good. 

As we read on in Exodus 14, we see that God worked for the good of his people – the ones He loved and chose, and the ones that loved Him.  He destroyed the Egyptians and His people crossed through the sea on dry ground because of God’s power and might at work in their lives.

There were Sundays in the early days of Alive when I can remember preaching to as few as 6 or 8 people after we dismissed the kids from the worship service for their ministry time.  As I was allowing myself to get discouraged and have doubts yesterday, I remembered that.  I remembered God’s faithfulness in growing our church and bringing people to salvation through Jesus.  As we were wrapping up our worship set and getting ready to dismiss the kids, I did a quick count of how many people were there.  About 50.  Scattered throughout an auditorium that seats well over 200.  It felt so empty. 

But I was preaching on what it means to be The Church and the people of God, and a big part of that is being together and loving people that we wouldn’t otherwise love or spend time with.  And God brought a thought to my heart.  So as we finished the opening set, I came forward and dismissed the kids and then I did something that I’m sure freaked a lot of people out.  I asked everybody to come down towards the front and pack into the first 2 rows of the auditorium.  As the volunteers who stay out in the lobby and a few late-coming families made their way in, those two rows just about filled the whole way up. 

Back in the early days of Alive, a day like this would have been disastrous for my ego.  But it was a great moment for God to remind all of us who braved the elements yesterday morning that He is bigger than our discouragement.  It was a beautiful thing to look out and see individuals come together as a family.  Quite a few folks who I know are struggling with loneliness and isolation in life, sitting next to people that loved them and were glad to be in worship with them.  Folks in their 50’s and 60’s sitting next to teenagers and babies.  Wealthy folks sitting next to poor folks.  It was a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God and a beautiful picture of the reality of what it means to be The Church.  It wasn’t the most exciting or extraordinary day in the history of Alive, but it was a great day and a beautiful day as I was reminded that my discouragement is no match for God’s power and grace at work in our lives. And by the time we were wrapping up, the snow was almost over.  We ended up with about 2 inches, which is nothing for us.  

The life of faith isn’t always easy.  In fact, it almost never is.  The things that God calls us to do to build His Kingdom on earth are daunting and downright scary sometimes.  We will get discouraged.  We will have doubts.  But God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises is a great source of comfort and strength in those times.  Like the Israelites, God still loves His kids today.  Like the Israelites, God is still at work in our lives to work for our good and his glory. 

Keeping our focus on the glory of God is how we get through those times of discouragement and doubt.  We don’t often remember the faithlessness and doubt of the Israelites, but we always remember the power of God in parting the sea and bringing glory to Himself.  As we look back on our lives, those are the moments we remember.  The moments when we were helpless, and God showed up and did a great thing!