Faith enough to believe and obey...

"Sing to God, sing praises of his name. Extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him - his name is the Lord. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land." -- Psalm 68:4-6

Believing in God is not that hard. Just look around you...it is impossible to look at the intricate parts of plants, animals, the human body, the solar system and not believe that we have a creator that put all of this world together in a specific way for specific reasons. No, believing in God is not the problem...relying on God is much tougher for us.

How do we RELY on someone we can't touch? How do we have a RELATIONSHIP with someone who we can't have a conversation with? How can we PRAISE someone we can't see? How do we have confidence in someone who we feel sometimes is not there?

Those are all valid questions...without faith.

Faith is not easy. Sometimes it is strong and we feel God with us. We can see how God is at work, even if we can't see God. But, there are other times, and unfortunately, there are probably more times, when faith is harder to come by and we don't seem to see God anywhere in our chaos.

The key is faith along with obedience. Obedience is doing what is right and relying on God, even when you can't see God. Hanging on to faith, even when it is small and weak, and still doing what is right...that is what God wants from us, and he will reward us for it.

I have had my time living in a sun-scorched land. There have been times in my life when I couldn't see God, couldn't feel his presence and didn't feel like doing what was right. I did my own thing, went my own way, and I suffered for it. I had a TASTE of life without God. At first, I thought I was free...I could do what I wanted and not worry about the consequences. I was young and even though I BELEIVED in God, I didn't think I NEEDED God. That freedom turned into slavery...I made mistake after mistake and unfortunately, I am STILL dealing with some of the consequences of those mistakes. But, God doesn't want his children living in slavery...when I was low, so low I called out to that God I believed in to help me, and he picked me up out of the slavery I had put myself in and he showed me how to not only believe, but have the faith to rely on him and obey him as well. It was THEN that I was free!

I don't know HOW it works...I don't know what God looks like or what his voice sounds like, but I do know he's there. I have a relationship with him because I talk TO him and listen for his guidance around me. His voice may come from that still small voice inside me, or it may come from a friend, or from a repeated Bible verse that keeps popping up. I may not hear the "voice" of God as Moses did, but I have FAITH that I hear him!

And so, I praise him! I sing my praises to him, the one I can't see, hear or touch because I believe and have faith enough to rely on him AND obey him. I even praise him when I have doubts and my faith is small. He knows...he hears and he takes care of me! Thank you Lord!