The Illusion of Faith (Genesis 12-14)

Genesis 12-14

If you want to know the truth, I think that we are all magicians.  Not necessarily good ones, mind you, but magicians, nonetheless.
 

Image courtesy of Boians Cho Joo Young 
 FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All of us, myself included, sometimes buy the false notion that having faith in God gives us certain perks.  We treat it kind of like one of those "rewards" cards that we wave at Kiva Juice after our 10th purchase.  We walk confidently to the front counter where everyone else is paying, brazenly order whatever we want and at the time of payment whip out our card that let's everyone know we've got a special deal because we are favored. 

If we have planned it well, we take a friend with us when we are going to use our card.  When the time comes to purchase, we show the card to the amazement of our friend.  If we are lucky, our friend is happy with the great drink and asks us how they too can get the type of perks we enjoy.  All the while thinking to ourselves, "Another converted soul."

If only faith were so easy.

I have surprised myself on how quick I am to question the goodness of God when I don't receive the "perks" I feel I am entitled to because of my faith in Christ.  I complain to God about how much I have sacrificed for His name.  I wonder about His provision for me and my family (though He has never failed me).  I have, at times, magically convinced myself that the whole reason that I have faith is because of the "perks".  Somehow I have defined the abundant life that Jesus offers as only blessings and never hardship.

Abram (also known as Abraham) was considered the "Father of Faith".  At the beginning of our reading today, God delivers to Abraham an incredible promise of blessing (that would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ).  Then, immediately after this, Abraham is thrown into many things that would test that faith. 

He is told to leave his family.  This may not seem a big thing, but there were no planes or cars back then.  Leaving his family at the distance that God was talking about meant never seeing them again.  All that support and care...gone...because God said "Go".

When he gets to the land God promised, he finds that this land is in a state of famine.  What!  No Kiva Juice!  So he takes his wife to a dangerous country to provide for her and because he fears for his life, lies about his relationship with her.  And while God truly protects and blesses, it maybe isn't the easy sailing ship that Abraham had envisioned when God said, "I will bless you and make your name great".

He gets back and the fighting between his house and the house of his nephew become so great that he has to separate from the last kin with him.  He gives him the choice land, which back in that time should have been reserved for the elder.  I wouldn't be surprised if Abraham was a little shocked that the offer wasn't given back to him out of common courtesy.

Then, this same nephew, finds himself captured as pawns between kings in the middle of a war.  A war Abraham wants no part of, but inserts himself so that he might rescue Lot.  How many died in the raid and the rescue...no one knows.  He gets reunited with his kin, but what did he lose in the process?

Famine.  Fear.  Lack of Honor.  War.  If Abraham defined faith the way we do when hard times come, he would have left God's promises on the side of the road long ago for something quicker and easier.  There is a reason he earned his title and we would do well to learn from it.

Hard times are bound to come to every one of us.  Jesus promised it.  It is during those times we find out whether or not our faith is true (not perfect, but steadfast)...or whether we are just magicians with the illusion of faith.