Faith
I have to let you in on a secret: I sometimes struggle with my faith. In speaking with other members of Grace Church or listening to them pray, I often find myself wishing I had faith like they do. I wish I too could pray with such conviction and in such way that demonstrates a close relationship with my Maker. It’s not that I don’t have faith; it’s just I wish I had more of it.
Don Carson, an evangelical theologian and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, tells a story about the “first Passover” to illustrate a great point about biblical faith, which I will paraphrase below. First, the setting: As you recall, despite God sending nine plagues to inflict Egypt—horrible plagues such as lice, frogs, water to blood, boils, locusts, and darkness, Pharoah would not let the Israelites leave Egypt. The tenth plague would be worse than anyone could imagine: God declared that he would strike dead the firstborn of all in Egypt, from the Pharaoh’s son to the livestock in the field. Remember, there was only one way to avoid this plague, and that was to spread a lamb’s blood across the doorposts of your home.
Now with that setting, imagine two Jewish men on the eve of the Passover, waiting for the tenth plague to take place. Let’s call them Mr. Weakly and Mr. Strong. Mr. Weakly and Mr. Strong are discussing all the plagues that have inflicted Egypt. “Did you see all those locusts?” “I have never seen so many frogs, they were all over the place.” “What about the Nile turning to blood? All the fish died, I could smell that from miles away, man, did that stink?” “Have you followed what Moses told us to do to avoid having our firstborn killed tonight?” Both men assured each other they had conscientiously followed Moses’s instructions and spread a lamb’s blood on their doorposts.
However, Mr. Weakly admitted to his good friend, Mr. Strong, that he was still nervous. Oh, how he loved his son; he could not imagine losing him, and despite what Moses said, he was still afraid. Mr. Strong responded directly to his friend, “I love my son too, but you have nothing to be concerned about because we have covered our doorposts with the blood of the lamb.” Despite Mr. Strong’s reassurance, Mr. Weakly just cannot help but feel anxious about it all. He did not want to lose his son, and he struggled to have the same confidence and faith that Mr. Strong demonstrated.
When the angel of death passed through Egypt that night, which father lost his son?
Neither!
And that’s the point of the story. Carson says, “The fulfillment of God’s promise that the angel of death would simply ‘pass over’ and not destroy their firstborns depended not upon the intensity of the faith of the residents but only upon whether or not they’d sprinkled blood on the doorposts and on the lintel.” In short, we are not saved by the strength of our faith but, rather, by the object of our faith. Put another way, if you are falling off a cliff, would you rather have a weak faith in a strong branch or a strong faith in a weak branch? Regardless of your level of faith, hold firmly on to that strong branch—the object of our faith—our Lord and Savior who died for our sins so we can spend eternity with him. The Holy Spirit will intercede for us and strengthen our faith. And when we cry out, “I believe, help my unbelief” to our Savior, we can be assured that the one who hears us is the glorified Passover Lamb.
Peace and Grace—
Carter