Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Hebrews 11:1-3
Why a picture of the fawn? Because it is evidence of a mother though I never saw her. Why this scripture? Because it speaks of Creation and its Creator for the same reason.
When you have evidence, faith is not needed for all questions are answered. Because all questions are answered, neither will you have doubt for it will be plain. Yet in this world doubt is needed. But doubt in what? How do I know what to doubt? And is doubt always a foe to faith?
Doubt in what? If God is the object of the doubt, there will be hopelessness. But if the world is the object of doubt, faith in God will grow. God is in the process of dissecting our faith in Him from faith in the seen.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" -Matthew 14:31
How do I know what to doubt? Faith in God (doubting this world) and faith in the world (doubting God) are like the two wolves in an old
Native-American tale. The wolf I feed will be the one that grows. I then must chose to grow the true but unseen or the temporary but seen. The famed minister
Peter Marshall said, "It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail." God has won the war over sin and death though we may find ourselves at the losing end in the battles of this age. But God encourages us to hang in, for the tiniest faith in the unseen reality of God can swallow up huge theoretical doubts about His promises.
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. -Matthew 21:21
Is doubt always a foe to faith? What happens when a disciple of Christ's doubts the world? Two choices; to fall into commiserating with the popular misery of the moment, or live out the priestly duties of lifting a fallen world to God in prayer constantly, praying for the sick, giving to those who cannot repay, loving the unloving, forgiving the unforgivable and encouraging the faint among a myriad of opportunities to be the feet and hands of Christ. God has called us out of the world, away from fully trusting our physical eyes and He is calling us to be His royal priesthood, donning on the eyes of faith that see well into eternity though this world try to cast doubt in God our way.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. -I Peter 2:9
I must apologize at this point if what I have said is coming out wrongly. But I stand by the content though unable to express it even to my own satisfaction. But one thing I have is a lot of love [
agape] for my audience and a trust in God's tender mercies for what is lacking. Doubt [in this world] is a gift, for without it there would be no need for faith [in God], which produces hope, and hope looks towards the day of our salvation into an eternal life with God.
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. -I Thessalonians 5:8
A delicious wind blew past Princess and me as we stepped onto the porch for our last walk of the day, and of 2009. Heading up the hill I saw a giant "round of cheese" rising on the horizon. We ran back to the house, grabbed the camera and positioned ourselves awaiting the orb which was playing peek-a-boo with us behind a cloud. But in a bit, it crowned above the wisp of silver nimbus. Camera in hand I snapped many unsuccessful shots of the lunar rise before settling on this one. Good enough.
