Favor and Knowledge Still Test Our Faith: 10 Biblical Examples

It may be difficult for us, sometimes, to realistically imagine life beyond our own everyday existence. We might, for example, tend to look back at what we call biblical times with no small amount of longing as we wonder just how much easier our faith would have been back then.

After all, if we had been present during the days of Abraham, Moses, Christ, or the Apostles, we might have witnessed innumerable and extraordinary events that would have more easily inclined our hearts upwards.

At the very least, we might have assembled for ourselves evidence of those invisible things that remain otherwise unprovable, or found certainty in those hidden things which remain otherwise unseen.

But deep within, we know that the heart is mightily challenged whenever it attempts to embrace an unwavering faith.

Faith must remain just that – a belief or confidence in those things for which our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts have no obvious, substantial, or undisputed evidence.

And so, we stumble. Often.

Not one of us will permanently escape this world of sin – there’s that troublesome, unwanted, but perfectly descriptive word.

And not one of us can permanently release our doubt – no matter the breath and depth of our faith.

I thought, therefore, that this second week of Easter might be an appropriate time to briefly recall 10 biblical examples of favor and knowledge that, even so, posed a challenge to those of even great faith.

1. Abraham, favored by God and directly commanded by Him to leave the house of his father – lied solely to save himself, calling Sarah his sister, and causing King Abimelek to seek out her favors (Genesis 20:2);

2. Moses, called by God to lead his people to the Promised Land, was once provoked into beating an Egyptian to death, hiding his body in the sand (Exodus 2: 11-15);

3. David, a man after God’s own heart, committed adultery with Bathsheba and knowingly sent her husband, Uriah, to certain death in order to hide his failure (2 Samuel 11: 1-16);

4. Job, despite his intimate relationship, challenged God and cursed his once prosperous life (Job, Chapter 3);

5. Jesus, fully knowing His authority to upend things, wept over Lazarus’ death and his sisters’ grief (John 11:35);

6. Lazarus, whom Jesus loved and raised from the dead (John 11:44), ultimately faced death a second time, notwithstanding his great friendship;

7. Peter, knowing without doubt that Jesus was the Christ, still denied and betrayed Him three times (John 18: 15-27);

8. Jesus, acknowledging and accepting His destiny, prayed to the Father to take this cup away from me, even as his sweat became like blood falling to the ground (Luke 22: 42-44);

9. Thomas, despite much time spent with Jesus as a close disciple, refused to believe until he saw and touched the very wounds of the living Christ (John 20: 24-25);

10. Paul, despite his Damascus awakening, three times pleaded with the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh (we know not what it was), and three times was denied (2 Corinthians 12: 7-9).

Faith alone is never a guarantee that we won’t stumble, or grieve, or despair.

But faith alone can help us to stand back up, despite the challenge.

And know that even if there are times when we are too weak and too tired to carry the burdens of our own cross, a mustard seed of faith may well be enough to help Christ carry His.

Peace

Photo Image Credit Here via Wikimedia Commons, with attribution (Knowledge and Belief, http://artmiro.ru)