Psalm 30:6-12
Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. I cried out to You, O Lord; And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper!” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Introduction
As I was prepping for this week, it has been a little different than usual. Of course, this week the kids have been off of school, so we were able to take a quick trip to Florida to celebrate Samuel and Joshua’s 10th birthday. But I have been mulling this sermon series over for quite some time, even before deciding to preach on it. This sermon was actually just a single sermon by Dad, but I felt that each part of that sermon deserved an entire talk. Beyond this, the sermon that Dad preached on the walls that Satan builds was originally adapted from a series of sermons that was preached by a friend of Dad’s named Brian Picard.
We are so often attacked by Satan, really on an everyday basis. I know that last week at the Notla River Association meeting that nearly to a man, the preachers that were there have felt attacked over the last year and a half from all different places, but always from one source. I will say that we need to pray for all of the pastors that we know right now, because as we do this series of sermons, I can guarantee that you know of a pastor who is experiencing an attack from one of these sources, including the one for today!
Today, we talk about the first wall that Satan builds, which is attacking our faith. These attacks could be as simple as the times we ask ourselves “is what God doing in my life really what I should be doing” to “is God really there? Are we just fooling ourselves?” There are so many times that we struggle with our faith. Let me make a blanket statement here: we are going to struggle with our faith. It’s a simple fact of life. Even the disciples, who were with Jesus here on this earth, saw him do miracles, and acknowledged him as the Son of God, struggled with their faith. How else would you have had Thomas saying “unless I put my hand in his side and in the holes in his hand will I believe that he is risen?” Or even Peter rejecting Christ three times! But let me say one other statement here: just because you struggle with your faith does not mean that you are less of a Christian because of it. Look at what Jesus does for Thomas, and look at what he does for Peter. He restores them both, and in personal ways. Jesus appears to Thomas and Thomas says “My Lord and My God!” Peter is restored by Jesus by saying thrice “Feed my Sheep”. And he does that for the rest of his life! A lack of faith at times is not an ending for us, unless we allow Satan to get into the crack and use it against us.
I can fully admit to you that I have struggled mightily with my faith throughout my life. Sometimes, this was because of forces that were completely out of my control, and sometimes it was just because I was being so obstinate towards God. I think we have examples of both in all of our lives, but we also have examples of this in the Bible, too.
II. Growing in Faith
We have already mentioned Peter and Thomas, but when we look through the Bible there are so many examples of people who struggled with their faith. Moses struggled with his call because of his speech impediment. David struggled with his faith, which we can see so often within the Psalms. Gideon felt abandoned by God, even after God had declared him a mighty warrior. But perhaps our best example of someone struggling with their faith in the Bible because of things out of their control is from the book of Job. We know about Job, he was the one that Satan tried to pull from God’s favor, and even said to God that if Job was shown true cruelty and disfavor. But Job never did. In fact, in Job 13:15, he states “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” He could have very easily said, just like his friends suggested to him, to give up that hope. But he never did. And he was rewarded greatly for it! Everything that he had taken away from him was returned plus more!
I know that the story of Job sounds somewhat easy. It never was for Job to continue following God even when Satan was attacking him. We have to know that struggling with our faith is not abnormal. A writer for Focus on the Family put it this way: “there’s nothing bad or unusual about the struggles you’re experiencing. Every Christian needs to wrestle with doubt and disbelief. A faith unquestioned and untested is no faith at all.” Our faith is one that must be questioned, and it is ok to ask questions of God. If there’s anything that I have learned from being a father about my faith, it is that it is ok to ask questions. My kids ask me what seems to be a million questions every day. Sometimes I know the answer, sometimes I have to look up the answer, and sometimes I just don’t know! But the wonderful thing about our heavenly Father is that we can ask honest questions of Him and he always knows the answer, and always knows the need even before we ask it.
One thing that I read this week was that God gave us a sense of curiosity, so we should be asking God questions so we can have a greater understanding of our faith, and what it means to be faithful. In other words, Christian faith is not just about having faith and faith alone. When we hold onto cliched answers like ‘Just believe’ or 'because the Bible says so’ we are doing a disservice to God and to ourselves. We are given evidence to our faith which gives us a solid confidence in that faith.
Look at what Jesus did in his earthly ministry. Jesus didn’t say for us to follow him just because, he told us to follow him because we should want to. He often called his servants in simple ways: to Matthew he just said “Follow Me”, and he did. But each time that he told them to follow him, he showed the disciples how they could trust him, and how they could believe him. He gave them proof of who he is, and even gave us proof of who he is, even to this day.
Satan attacks us on our faith because he thinks that it is an easy thing to do. Remember our talk about soils? And also about the two houses built on the sandy soil and the hard rock? Jesus knew that faith would be something that would be something attacked, and attacked often. Jesus reminded us that, in so many of his parables, that we must stand firm against those attacks. But how can we do it? How do we withstand it, and how can we know that our faith is truly on the solid foundation? Look at 1 Peter 5:8-10: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” We are to be vigilant and sober, and know that Satan is truly coming after us. And Christ will continue to protect us, perfect us, and settle us against those attacks.
III. Obstinate people
But what about those times where we get in the way of our own faith? The times where we are obstinate towards God? We have a perfect example in the Bible of this, in Numbers 14:1-4. God had delivered his people out of the hands of the Egyptians, out of slavery, and had even allowed for his people to scout the promised land. They had been promised everything by God, and Caleb even said for the people to go and take possession of the land. But the naysayers came up right behind him and said that the people in the land promised to them were too strong, and then the people all turned against Moses and God. It says in 14:1-4 “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” How absolutely obstinate of God’s people to say this! They had been promised the land of milk and honey, had even had proof of it from Caleb and the others that were sent to spy out the land, but the people got into their own way for their faith in God. God was ready to smite them for being so obstinate! Their faith was swayed because they thought that they would have it completely easy (which they truly did!), but they did not respect or praise God for releasing them from bondage.
But look even further at this in Deuteronomy 29:2-4. God’s word says that “Moses called all Israel and said to them: ‘You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land - the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.” God had given the people more than enough evidence to know that he was their rock and salvation. He had truly brought them out of bondage. But yet, they still complained, they still fought against him, and in the least bit of trouble they turned their backs on their faith. And this may sound far-fetched, but how many people have you seen in your lifetime turn away from God at the least bit of trouble? It’s something that we deal with on an everyday basis! We can perceive all the Lord has done, and people can see it, but yet they will not believe. We cannot fully prove God to anyone, except through our personal testimony. We show others what we have been proved by God through our prayers and through our actions. And we must be on guard against getting in the way of our own faith through the actions that we take.
IV. Conclusion
When we wrestle with our faith, sometimes it IS because we cannot know what it is attacking us. Other times it can be our own selves getting in the way of our faith. But in those times, we can know there are three things we can do to help ourselves. First, we have to stick with what we know. Remind yourself of God’s promises, the prayers that he’s answered, the prayers that he hasn’t answered that have led to even better things in your life, and your personal history with your Savior. Second, be like a child. I know this sounds a little weird, but think of the faith that a child has in their parents. When they are scared, they will reach out for their parent, and God is truly our Heavenly Father. He will aid and comfort us, and we can reach him through prayer and worship. Finally, when you struggle with your faith, reach out to Christian friends. Seek out someone who will pray with you, who will listen and counsel you. I’ve often been reminded that there is truly no shame in asking for help. Proverbs 27:9 says “Ointment and perfume delight the heart,
And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.” When we reach out to others in that time of need, when our faith is being battered by the enemy, we find that our God is truly greater than anything that Satan can try to throw against us. Christ doesn’t ask for us to just have faith in him because he says so, he wants us to have a faith that is all-encompassing. And when we do that, when we let go of anything standing in our way of that faith, God truly does great things for us and through us. Let’s pray.
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