Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Faith in God’s faithfulness

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” 1 Corinthians 10:13-14

I have known many people, including pastors, who spent years striving to build their faith to the point that every single prayer, healing, or outcome they were looking for would be fulfilled by God. They believed that everything they spoke would come into existence if their faith was in ship-shape. Sadly and often unintentionally, faith in God slowly transitioned into faith in their own faith.

I agree that God responds supernaturally to the believer’s prayers according to His will (1 John 5:14-15) and that the words of our mouth must be carefully weighed and pleasing to the Lord (James 3:2-10). However, as with any doctrine of scripture that is overemphasized and biblically imbalanced, it can begin to cross the line into dangerous territory.   

I have seen firsthand how an overemphasis on having faith in our own faith can become destructive over time. I have seen this stress became unbearable for people to the point that they gave up, and not just on their faith for healing and other results, but on faith itself. Sadly, they concluded that if they didn’t have enough faith for temporal things, they must not have enough faith for the greatest miracle of all—eternal salvation. I have seen many of these believers give up on their faith and God completely, which is a tragedy.

The problem is that their faith was misguided. It became faith in their own faith, which turned their focus onto a specific result rather than a sovereign, faithful God. In essence, their faith became idolatry. On the contrary, when you have faith in God, you give him the requests, but you trust him for the results. It is true, we are to be trusting God in the request we have, but also trust Him enough that, as He answers, we know the answer is perfect. 

            God is calling us to believe in his faithfulness. If it’s just faith in our faith or faith in the results and we get everything we pray for, then it becomes the doctrine of little gods, which is unbiblical. As Christians we have been given the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit and can understand God’s will so far as he chooses to reveal it to us. However, we must balance that with the humble truth that we are fallible human beings who can never fully know or instruct the mind of the Lord (1 Corinthians 2:16, Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 40:13, Job 38-41).

Anything that gets our faith off God and his faithfulness is sin. So, if it is faith in our faith, it is sin. If it is faith in the result, it is sin. If it is faith in our own power, it is sin. The truth of the word of God is that He wants us to trust in His faithfulness. The focus is off of us and onto Him.