Galaxies

Abraham looked up into the galaxies, into the stars--"so shall your offspring be." And he believed. 

We say great faith. But great God, greater than the galaxies that amazed Abraham's soul. 

Abraham, “in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body…or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:18-20).

Abraham of great faith.

We look at others of “great faith.”

It is humbling when some say I have great faith. If only you knew! I can only say, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless….” (Jude 24).

Yet really, what do statements like, “You have such great faith” say about God? Sometimes, sometimes I think it is almost as if, “You have great faith in spite of the pain, difficulties, courts, finances, relationships, etc….. and in spite of God’s not-answering.” As if God wasn’t trustworthy. Wasn’t faithful. “You have great faith in spite of God not coming through.”

If we really saw how trustworthy God was would we doubt? How loving? How powerful? The God of the Galaxies is for us.

But we do live in the not-yet. We do wait. We live in the dawning when the light hasn’t fully come, the stratosphere that clouds the Greater than Galaxies God. Jesus himself commends faith, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Jesus himself, “marveled at [the Roman centurion], and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith’” (Luke 7:9)

Sometimes we see great faith as the abnormal, super-and-above response.

Yet that is true only in such bent hearts, blind eyes, broken world, where dark reigns.

Faith should be the natural response, the normal, what Adam and Eve were created for, like breathing. Abraham’s response to believe even though his body was dead and Sarah was barren should be normal. Marching around Jericho should be normal. David’s charging into Goliath should be normal. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s response should be normal. Esther’s going before the king should be normal. Paul and Silas singing in prison should be normal. Faith in the face of financial crisis, transitions, fears, health, etc. should be normal.

Not because we have such great faith but because God is completely trustworthy. He is the Great, the Good, the Powerful, the Impossible-Doer, the Stepper-into-Human-History-and-Changer-of-Things, the Protector-of-His-Children, the Creator-and-Commander-of-Atoms-and-Galaxies, the White-Horse-Faithful-and-True.

 

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

Our faith may be small, but it is placed in a Greater than Galaxies God, God of the heavens who reaches down to earth. God who cares about the infinitesimal you and I in the great globe of gazillion galaxies.

Let faith be normal.
Let our very faith point to such a glorious God, highlight him, exalt him, prove him worthy of trust. Let our speech about faith show him to be trustworthy.
Let every fiber of my, of our being, lean on you, trust you, shout you are GOD, I AM, the High King!

Let us see God!