Page 16 - The Divine Quest

The Divine Quest Page 13

faith, when we begin to doubt God’s holy character, His flawless love and His
righteousness, it becomes impossible to please Him. Any thought or action that
arises from a heart devoid of faith in God will be regarded with displeasure.

I am sure that all saints have heard the phrase “Have faith in God” a multitude of
times. It has become a cliche and often has little understanding attached to it. We
need to examine what it means to have faith in God. Faith in God is trusting in who
He has declared Himself to be. Faith in God is confidence in His character.

I think perhaps that most saints, when they have heard this phrase, have thought
about God’s power. “Have faith in God” has been understood as “Have faith in God’s
power to deliver you.” As we are seeing, a more accurate understanding would be,
“Have faith in God’s character. Believe that He loves you and will work all things out
for your good.” When we have this latter type of faith in God, when we trust in His
character, we please Him immensely. We are declaring by our thoughts and actions
that God is trustworthy.

Eve’s sin in the Garden was a declaration that she believed God to not be
trustworthy. She believed that He had some selfish motive in withholding from her
the fruit that was forbidden. She doubted that He had her best interests at heart.
Such thoughts are an affront and a reproach to Yahweh. In spite of the great insult
that Adam and Eve gave to God, He did not destroy them and start anew. Instead He
gave them a promise of a Savior being born to mankind who would take away the
curse of sin. His love is truly kind and unselfish.

This first sin, being a failure to trust in the character of God, set a pattern for many
more sins to follow. The histories recorded in the Bible demonstrate this same
example of unbelief and sin being played out time after time. We could fill hundreds
of pages with examples.

Before Cain slew Abel, God spoke to Him, “Why are you angry? And why has your
countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” God was telling Cain
to trust in the character of God. He is a rewarder of those who do right. Yet Cain
failed to have faith in God and he gave himself over to evil, murdering his brother.

The history of the kings of Israel gives us many profound examples of men who failed
to trust in God’s character. The first king was Saul. God made precious promises to
Saul, telling him that if he did what was right that the kingdom would be established
under him, and his sons would never cease to sit on the throne. As God does with
ALL of His children, He tested Saul’s heart to see if Saul would have faith in Him and
obey Him.