What's The Problem

I'm not sure why this thought crossed my mind today, but when certain things capture my thinking process I begin to dig a little deeper into them.  I need truth ... not just pie in the sky supposition ... especially concerning the things of God.  I need to know.

So here Peg and I are just like every other morning as we start our day.  We pray together for our family, church, nation and anything special the Lord places on our hearts.  Today wasn't any different.  We worshiped, praised, and petitioned the "One" who sits on the mercy seat in heaven and dispenses His grace and love as "He" sees fit.

Twenty minutes later we receive a phone call asking prayer for one of the same loved ones that we just prayed for.  He just became ill and was nauseous and vomiting.  What?  Did our words of petition fall to the ground instead of rising up to the heart of God?

Is there a lesson here? 

I read in 1st Samuel 3:19 ... "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him; and did let none of his words fall to the ground." 

Well, I've grown in years as well, and hopefully also in wisdom, knowledge and understanding ... but it's this last part (the part about understanding) I'm not too sure about.  Even Solomon had trouble understanding why God does what He does.  That's why he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes ... and it's still up to date.

Peg and I also believe that the Lord is with us as well.  He said He will never leave or forsake us, right?

So, that leaves us with the last part of this scripture.  The Lord ... "did let none of (Samuel's) words fall to the ground."  Is that what happened?  Our words just went plop, right to the ground, or as it was in our setting ... buried in the carpet?

So what's the problem?

All of this started me thinking about Abraham and why he is called, "the father of faith."  He was the first to believe that when God said something, God would do it.  The Apostle Paul explains that Abraham received the promise, simply by believing what God said to him.  I prefer how the Amplified Bible words it.

Romans 4:16-17 ... "Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith ... As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed."  

God's promises are so certain, that He speaks of them (the nonexistent things) as "already" in existence.  God speaks of the promise as something already done.  In God's own mind ... it was done.

I guess my question as it relates to this morning is this ...

If the answer to prayer, "depends [entirely] on faith" ... why does God say to Abraham ... "I have made you" the father of many nations.  Shouldn't God have said, "your faith" has made you the father of many nations.

So I question just how much Abraham's "faith" played in [inheriting] the promise, because, when God declared ... "I have made you the father of many nations" ... it was as good as done right then and there.  God was going to make sure it happened. 
 
Because God decreed it so, I am assuming that it was God's decretive will for Abraham and Sarah to bring forth a child that would begin the blood line of the Jewish people.  By the way ... God's Sovereign will has also been called, "the absolute will of God" because it will absolutely come to pass.  When God Sovereignly decrees something … it must come to pass.

Unlike our words, God's words don't fall to the ground.  I believe 1st Samuel 3:19 alludes to the fact that our words can and sometimes do fall to the ground.

Concerning our morning prayer time that I spoke about in the beginning ... I have found that my words are not God's words.  My petitions and requests, the words that I use each day to declare my faith and trust in Jesus for my family ... I know that most of the time they reach the mercy seat of a loving God. 

I also know that Jesus said this in Mark 11:24 ... "I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."

So what's the problem?  It must be the word ... believe.

"Inheriting the promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith."

Is the answer that simple?  Yes ... it must be. 

Jesus was God in the flesh.  Therefore, through Jesus, God ... "decreed" ... Mark 11:24 as "the absolute will of God," and when God decrees something … it must come to pass.

What's the problem?  We don't have one if we believe.  God will do His part.

Our part is to believe.




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