Part Two: Hindrances of Faith
Do you think your faith has increased over the years? Or are there still things holding you back from maturing into perfect faith? What hinders us from the type of faith Jesus desired from his disciples? Much like his disciples, we too, have difficulties trusting and believing in God, but why? Why is it so hard for us to lean on a God who always keeps His promises? There’re many hindrances but two seem to persistently plague our Christian life, rationalization and focus.
Rationalization
In a way, you could say that rationalization and focus play into each other- we rationalize this way because our focus is that way. If we were to look at these separately, both point to our biggest obstacle (and you can probably guess on what it is), our heart. The biggest obstacle falls within ourselves rather than our own circumstances. When we examine matters of the heart, one thing that hinders us from trusting God is our innate ability to rationalize with what makes sense to us. Could it be that the foundation of our reasoning is based on ourselves and not The Creator? Undoubtedly, human reasoning is a contributing factor which solidifies the blockades in our heart. We practice risk management and calculate outcomes to achieve a goal that either we’re comfortable with, attainable, or safe for us but in doing so, we minimize the omniscience of the living God. The recognition of God’s presence and sovereignty should be foundational in our reasoning, not our own view or experiences.
In Exodus chapter 3, God tells Moses to head back to Egypt to free His people. Excuse after excuse, Moses tries to reason with God saying, “who am I that I should go to Pharaoh.” (v.11); “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘what is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” (v.13-15); “They won’t believe me or listen to my voice…” (4:1); “…I am slow of speech and of tongue” (4:10). And after all that, Moses pleaded, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” (4:13).
"God counters every excuse we have with His promise"
God told Moses exactly who He is (3:6), what He was going to do (v.7-8), and who He was going to use to fulfill His will (v.10). God counters every excuse we have with His promise. He said in verse 10 of chapter 3, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” I don’t recall God telling Moses, “Moses, can you pleeeeeaaase go and try to set my people free?” No! When we look at things horizontally, it clouds our view vertically (I know you heard this before). Putting limits on ourselves, limits our ability to trust God and when this happens, it limits our joy, our faith, our happiness…EVERYTHING. How can we expect to experience the fullness of God working in us, if we can’t trust who He is? God is never changing, a rock on which we can stand but our doubt pulls us away from the truth about His character. God is good, but doubt tells me He doesn’t love me. God is faithful, but doubt tells me He has forgotten me. God is merciful, but doubt tells me He hates me. God is powerful, yet doubt tells me He can’t help me. I know I don’t always make the best decisions and oftentimes I can talk my way out of things based on fear but God says, “Have courage! Trust me!” God knows beforehand what we can and cannot do and when we think we cannot do, He gives us the strength to do it as long as it glorifies His name.
Focus
Now let’s talk about Focus. We can be so easily derailed from our Christian walk in times of trouble that doubt and fear can easily wash over the faith we understood to be strong and unwavering; maybe not, I'm praying that you all are unwavering children of The Almighty. When this happens, in severe cases, people start to doubt if their faith is genuine or not. They start to wonder if God can even help them, or if He is even listening to their prayers. Our focus is momentarily taken away and our view of God's gloriousness is obstructed. A couple of days ago, I went for a walk around the block with my boys while they rode their bikes. My youngest, still in training wheels, reached out to grab a low hanging flower off a tree and as his eyes went from sidewalk to flower, both hands let go of the handle bars and his buttocks lifted slightly off the seat. Wasn't long before his left training wheel caught the edge of the sidewalk tipping him over into the grass. As I picked him up and brushed his tiny knees, I reminded him that he needs to keep his eyes on the road. He looked up at me and said, with his squeaky voice, “okay daddy…” and off he went.
Obvious connection here isn’t it? Keep…your…eyes…on…Jesus! Even when it's hard, know that we have a God that is living and active in our lives. Do you remember what happened to Peter when Jesus called him out to walk on water? Peter fell into the sea. Why? Because Peter was so concerned about THE WIND! And what did Jesus say after that? “You of little faith, why do you doubt?” Out of all things that broke Peter’s focus, it was the wind. Don’t you think God knows outside elements are outside our control? And yet, God calls us out anyway, encouraging us to trust Him. And then we read about people like Bartimaeus in the book of Mark. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar, probably seen as an insignificant member of society but yet he's heart was filled with hope. As Jesus was making his way out of Jericho, Bartimaeus was sitting on the roadside when he heard Jesus was near from the gathering crowd. As soon as he heard this, he cried out to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David...Have mercy on me” (Mark 10:48). The people tried to silence him but out of desperation he continued to cry out. He didn’t have to physically see Jesus to know that Holiness is near. Bartimaeus didn’t have to witness miracles in order to believe that Jesus was the messiah either. He knew exactly what the scriptures said about Jesus when he acknowledged Him as "Son of David". Bartimaeus put his trust and believed in everything that Jesus’ name carried. Do we do that? We know who Jesus is, but is our heart focused on the one we call Savior? Is our heart full of the same amount of hope as the blind beggar? Or do they let the things of the world, which will eventually pass like the wind, interfere with our view of Jesus?
There're many things that interfere with our trust in God rationalization and focus are just to name a few. Dr. Charles Stanley offers this list of obstacles to Faith:
Human Reason
Living by Sight
Surrendering to Feelings
Negative Counsel
Feelings of Guilt Neglecting God’s Word
Continuing in Sin
Satan’s Tactics
As he encourages you to think about these things, he also reminds us that, “Any attempt on your belief is Satan’s attempt to divide your allegiance.” Don't fall into the trap set by Satan or his evil schemes. Brothers and sisters, these truths are hard to remember when we’re angry or upset, I get it but take that anger and hurt to God, not out on Him. In times of confusion, I think it’s important to wrestle with God. During prayer, I wrestle with God often about His plans for my life. He allows us to ask questions and feel what we need to feel but once we start to doubt and live in fear, that wrestling slowly turns into blame for our iniquities; and that is dangerous territory. Ask these questions to yourself, talk to other people God placed around you, keep Christ at the center. There is nothing wrong with feeling hurt, pain, or confusion. I know we don’t prefer to be in it but the reality is we’re going to experience it. FIGHT my brothers and sisters to see Jesus! Fight through the crowd that is telling you to be silent! Fight to move that obstacle that is blocking your view! Fight the attempts by Satan to divide your allegiance. Satan wants nothing more than to have you in his corner.
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