Romans 4:19 “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reveals to us how Abraham exercised his faith. And so because God calls Abraham the father of all those who believe (Romans 4:11), it would be beneficial for us to examine his example of faith. The context of this passage refers to Abraham receiving God’s promise that he would become the father of many nations. In this passage the Holy Spirit reveals a very important principle with regards to how faith works, for we see that Abraham did not consider his body which was already dead and he also did not consider the deadness of Sarah’s womb. In other words Abraham did not look at the very real circumstances as they existed in the natural. Abraham did not deny that his physical body was already dead, since he was about a hundred years old. He also did not deny the deadness of Sarah’s womb, since she was about ninety years old at the time. Abraham did not pretend that these circumstances did not exist, because he knew that they did exist. Instead what Abraham chose to do, was to not consider or look at his circumstances. He chose rather to look at the promise of God.
2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
What Abraham did was completely scriptural, because as recorded for us in the above quoted passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk by faith and not by sight. In other words we are not to be influenced by what we see in the natural, but rather we are to be influenced by our faith in God’s promises. In all instances, the promises of God cannot be seen in the natural. Therefore those who walk according to their faith in the promises of God will walk by that which cannot be seen and ignore that which can be seen.
2 Corinthians 4:18 “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us not to look at the things that are seen, but rather to look at the things that are not seen. The things that are seen are the circumstances that we want changed. It may be a sickness or it may be a financial need, or it may be any number of real circumstances that do not line up with the promises of God. Whatever these circumstances may be, they are real and they exist. As believers, we are never taught to deny them or to pretend that they do not exist. But rather as believers, we are taught not to look at those circumstances, or you could say we are taught to ignore them. What we are taught to look at is what the promise of God says about the circumstance and we are to keep our eyes fixed on that. There are two main reasons why we do not look at our circumstance but rather at the promise of God, firstly because the promise of God is eternal while our circumstance is only temporary. God’s word will never change, it is immovable. No matter how contrary to God’s word your circumstance may be, God’s word regarding that circumstance remains the same. And His power, through faith in His power, will always cause your circumstance to line up with His word, for His word is eternal. Secondly, we do not look at the circumstance, because what we look at affects our thinking which can create doubt in our minds, thus nullifying our faith in the promise of God.
Matthew 14:28-31 “And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." (29) So, He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (30) But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" (31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit gives us a vivid example of what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. The context of this passage is that the disciples were on the lake of Galilee in the early hours of the morning. It was still dark, and they had been rowing with some difficulty to cross the lake because there was a strong wind that was blowing against them. Our Lord Jesus was not with them in the boat because He had stayed behind to dismiss the crowds and He had then gone up the mountain to pray. After His time in prayer Jesus then crossed the lake by walking on the water. He caught up with the disciples still struggling to row to the other side and He would have carried on past them but they saw Him, and when they did they cried out in fear because they thought they were seeing a ghost. Our Lord then calmed them down by telling them that it was Him they were seeing and not a ghost. And so we pick up the account as Peter is responding to what the Lord had just said, and now the Holy Spirit gives us a lesson on what happens when we walk by faith and not by sight. Peter had received the word of God, which was completely contrary to his circumstance, for we all know that in the natural it is impossible for anyone to walk on water. And yet Jesus had said to him that he could walk on the water, for our Lord said “Come”. At this point Peter begins to walk by faith and no longer by sight, for he climbs down out of the boat and walks on the water to go to Jesus. As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus and His word the power of God could flow, which enabled Peter to walk on water. Up until this point Peter had been ignoring his circumstances in the natural and was fully focused on God’s word. And then the Holy Spirit gives us a lesson on what happens when we begin to walk by sight and no longer by faith. The scripture says that “when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid”. And so we see that the moment that Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and His word and began to look at his circumstances in the natural, doubt arose in Peter’s mind. It is when Peter began to doubt that the power of God stopped working and Peter began to sink. And so we see that Peter’s faith was affected by what he was looking at. In the exact same manner, what we look at either produces faith or it produces doubt. If we look at God’s word it will produce faith. If we look at our natural circumstances it will produce doubt. The lesson is clear that whichever promise of God that we believe for, we must keep our eyes on His promise and refuse to consider our circumstance that we want changed. As we look at the promise of God it will produce faith, and our faith will then release the power of God that will change our circumstance to line up with His promise. But as we have also seen in this example, we need to keep our eyes focused on God’s word until God’s miracle has been fully manifested in our lives. It was the Lord’s will that Peter walk out to Him on the water and then the two of them could have walked back to the boat together. But before that could happen, Peter took his eyes off God’s word and therefore never experienced God’s full blessing.
Michael E.B. Maher
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