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Liveloved -> An encouragement to have faith (8/5/2008 12:47:50 PM)
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As I was reading and meditating on Matthew 21 and the story of the barren fig tree, I was reminded of what faith is and what faith does. And I was reminded of the barren land spoken of by Willa Cather in her book, My Antonia. The narrator of the story tells of when he first came to this vast, barren, uncultivated land in Nebraska.
"I slipped from under the buffalo hide, got up on my knees and peered over the side of the wagon. There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. . . there was nothing, but land; not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made."
Isn't that often what we see when we look at ourselves? or others we are praying for? a vast, barren, uncultivated land? not much to work with? not much for God to work with? an impossible situation?
But Jesus calls us to believe, to have faith. And His word is "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea', it shall happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."(Matt 21:21-22)
What does believing, having faith do? Do we believe that God's word is at work in us when we read it, let it have it's way in us, and in the lives of those we love?
In another Willa Cather novel, O Pioneers, she also illustrates what believing, having faith will do. These are the words of a pioneer woman who believed this wild, uncultivated land could become a productive farm and was willing to wait.
"We hadn't any of us much to do with it. The land did it. It has its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right; and then all at once it worked itself. It woke up out of its sleep and stretched itself and it was so big, so rich, that we suddenly found we were rich, just from sitting still."
That is a picture of believing, having faith, trusting God to do His work in us, with us and through us and in those we love. The timing isn't ours. The believing is.
Your thoughts?
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