Faith, Part IV
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.” —Hebrews 11:6
IN OUR KEY VERSE in this series, Paul continues with his thought, referring to prayer when he writes, “for he that comes to God.” Prayer is one of the greatest resources that we have as believers, but very few really take advantage of it. God desires that we come to Him with every single one of our problems, needs, and troubles, for He is the only one who can truly help. He also desires a relationship with His children, but few actually desire a relationship with Him.
How sad it is when Christians, when faced with a problem, will tell a neighbor, friend, relative, or significant other and never, at one time, tell God. There’s an old saying that I heard years ago that says, “If you have a problem, tell God or your dog, but never tell your neighbor. If you tell your dog, the only thing that your dog can do is wag its tale. But if you tell your neighbor, that neighbor will wag his tongue.”
As Christians, why do we settle for help from people when all they can do is offer sympathy or empathy, when God is able to meet our needs? We should consider it an advantage to bring our needs to the Lord, for He alone is the only one who can provide what is needed for that very moment. Remember, He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sufficient, and the Scripture tells us that He is our very present help in time of trouble (Ps. 46:1).
He Is
Not only are we to come to God in prayer, but we are to believe that “He is.” Now, this is so much more than just believing that He exists, but it really points to the fact that God is whatever we need Him to be, at the very time we need Him to be. This is such an outstanding promise, to know that God is whatever we need Him to be, in order to meet our need.
Let me give you a biblical example from the Old Testament. Moses, the great lawgiver, was on the verge of doing something that, in the natural, was utterly impossible: to stand before the mightiest monarch on the face of the planet and declare to him to release the children of Israel from captivity.
This was a monumental assignment. One man, with one stick and with one message—“Let My people go!” I’m sure you can imagine the consternation Moses was experiencing at that moment, but God was specific in this task, and it must be done. In prayer, Moses would ask, “Whom shall I tell them that sent me?” to which God responded, “I AM THAT I AM: and He said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Ex. 3:14).
What He was saying to Moses that day can be stated as, “I was, I am, and I shall continue to be.” It is what we can refer to as a blank check, meaning that He will be whatever we need Him to be. If we need Him to be a banker, He’s our banker. If you need a doctor, He’s the best doctor in the world. If you need a lawyer, then He’s the greatest lawyer that’s ever lived. He is whatever we need Him to be. Now, we need to bring clarification to that statement, for some people will take that out of context. We need to understand that whatever is being asked has to be in the will of God for our lives. If it’s not the will of God, then we are asking amiss. God will only work according to His will, and we must never forget that. There are going to be times that we ask the Lord for something, but it will not be answered, because it’s not God’s will. We must seek His will in every aspect of our lives, and never base things off of presumption.
A Rewarder To Those Who Seek Him
This last phrase, “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,” is extremely important to the believer. This really lends itself to the fact that God will do whatever is needed, providing, as mentioned above, that whatever is being asked is in the will of God. We must acknowledge that God only has good things in store for us, His children. He desires to provide and take care of whatever His children need.
As parents, Jill and I want what’s best for our children, and we desire to provide what is best for our children, but this doesn’t mean that we give our children whatever they want, especially if we know that whatever is being asked for will hurt them. When see something that could hurt them, we choose not to provide it for that very reason. God, our heavenly Father, does the same with us. And if we want what’s best for our physical children, then how much more does God want to provide what’s best for His children?
The word rewarder means “to perform, recompense, render, requite, restore, or yield.” When a person comes to Christ, he automatically enters in into God’s economy, and in God’s economy there will never be an economic downturn, recession, loss in stocks, uncertainty, or panic, for God will take care of us.
No matter what the need is, God has promised us in His Word that He will provide whatever is needed. But let me make this point, these things will not come to us automatically, nor will they come without us seeking His will. We are to diligently seek Him—seek Him out and believe Him for that which is needed. Not every request we ask God for will come right away; if it happened that way, we would never learn to trust and depend upon Him to meet our needs. It won’t be easy, and there will be times where you feel discouraged that your promise will never come to pass. But continue to press through and believe Him regardless of the circumstances that are before you; believe Him in spite of what is happening around you. When you do this, if whatever you are asking for is in the will of God for your life, then it will come to pass.
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