Why Faith Matters
When you go through a crisis in your life it can really shake your faith in God. Crisis moments either solidifies or shatters your faith in God. If you don’t believe me, ask the mother who just buried her newborn child. Or the person who worked for a company for twenty years and was let go from their workplace. Or the person who was told by their doctor that they only had six months to live.
In storms like these you wonder, if life will ever go back to “normal”. In times like these you wonder, how should I move forward?
In 1 Samuel 30, David a man after God’s heart, went though a terrible life crisis. The Bible says, David and his men were coming back to their camp when they discovered that the Amalekites (their enemy) came to the camp and took their wives, sons, and daughters. All the men were distraught and sad. The Bible says they cried until they had no strength (1 Samuel 30:4).
After they cried, the Bible says the men were mad at David and they were going to stone him. The men were bitter. The Bible says that David was greatly distressed (1 Samuel 30: 6). This was David’s crisis moment. Can you relate to David? Are you going through a crisis right now and are you greatly distressed? Are your emotions bouncing off the wall? You might be asking, "God why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this?"
Let’s take a look at how David responds to his crisis moment. The Bible says that David strengthened himself in the LORD (1 Samuel 30:6). Wow!
David's response is a powerful way to navigate through a crisis. When the Bible says David strengthened himself in the LORD this means he had faith in God. David believed in his God. David had a relationship with God. David knew God rescued him in the past, helped him, and loved him. This was not a superficial relationship David had with God, this was a real relationship.
This, my friends is what makes the biggest difference between getting through a crisis in life versus letting it overcome us. Our faith in God! When David put his faith in God, he was exercising active faith. Essentially David probably thought, “God, I don’t know how this is going to end. I don’t know what my next step is but I am coming to you God to lead and guide me.” James 2: 17 says "faith without works is dead". When we are going through a crisis God is calling us to do the same thing David did in his troubling moment, have active faith not passive faith. Have you been putting your faith in God?
Unfortunately, when we compare David’s response to a crisis to King Saul we can see there is a difference. Saul did not have an intimate relationship with God. Thus, when Saul went through his own life crisis the Bible says that God did not answer him (1 Samuel 28:6). Why? Because Saul was disobedient to God. When God did not answer Saul, he became so desperate that he went to a mediumist, who then conjured up the dead prophet Samuel, and was given the bad news that he would die. In our own walk with God, let us remember that we need to have faith in God, and not run to other sources for help.
David’s faith was so strong in God that he went to him and asked him what should I do? The LORD answered David. God told David that he would succeed and to go and fight the Amalekites. Indeed David and his men went to find the Amalekites and they won. Everything they lost was restored to them and they took the plunder as well.
I want to encourage you today, that just like David, to continue to trust and believe God. Walk in faith. Continue to seek God and ask him for wisdom despite what you are going through. God by his grace and mercy can answer you.
After David received confirmation from God that they would win against the Amalekites the Bible everything was restored to them. My friends, God also wants to bring restoration to our situations. How God brings restoration into our lives will be according to his way and time.
May you and I remember that when we are going through our rough patch, faith is what will make the difference. A lack of faith will lead us down a hard, hopeless, and destructive road. A path like Saul. But a heart of faith can lead us to peace, answers, and hope restored. What we learn from this story is that by faith David went to God, asked for a revelation, and in the end God worked it out for him. God can do the same in our life as we continue to have faith in him.
May God in his time and in his way see our faith and give us what we need so that we can get through our troubling time.
To watch the full sermon on this topic please click here.
