"For We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight"

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)

⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight.

This is something God yet again had to remind me today-- that I have to walk by faith and not by sight because visible is deceiving, but invisible gives hope. I have no doubt at this point in my life that everything works together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28), and He is faithful to those who seek His truth.

One of the things that jumped at me when reading the devotional by Oswald Chambers is what he said:

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.

It is a very hard thing to do- walking by faith because it requires a complete surrender to God. On the week that my daughter is with my husband, and I don`t get to see her, I go out of my mind, and the only thing I can do is trust the Lord- walk by faith and not by sight. I cannot control the visible circumstances or rely on them because that`s not the final outcome.

If I relied on what I see, I couldn`t have hope and faith in God to produce the ultimate result to show His faithfulness. If I concentrated solely on what I see, I could only get more stressed of the unknown outcome for my upcoming court`s decision, my reconciliation with my husband, my restoration of the family, my husband`s repentance, my husband`s change, my change—all these things I couldn`t even think of as a possibility if I only walked by my sight.

It is by the choice that we can make the decision to trust the Lord, to trust that He works everything for the better, that He is faithful, that He is good, and He is the shelter to those who seek Him and trust in Him.

Oswald Chambers brought up a very important point: seeking special moments, and this is something that I truly love when I can hear God`s voice, His guidance, but then there are days of silence when I just have to trust that He is with me, and His hand continues to guide me and protect me. It is very easy to get addicted waiting for those “special moments” and never do anything else. Some days I feel lonely, and some days I feel empty, and it`s only by walking by faith and not by sight that I know that God`s goodness continues to wrap around me and my daughter.

In the 2 Chronicles 24:10-12 (NIV) there is a very interesting scripture as to how God preserved His word and promise to sustain David`s reign:

¹⁰When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah.¹¹ But Jehosheba,^[e] the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,^[f] the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. ¹² He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Athaliah was the only Queen to rule in Judah, and she was a really wretched and wicked woman. She ordered her entire family to be slaughtered: her sons and grandchildren, so she could reign. So we see that Jehosheba took Joash (who was a newborn at the time) and hid him at the God`s temple, where she knew Athaliah would never set her foot since she was a pagan worshiper. Joash was the last err in the line of David, and although to the nation it looked like God failed, He didn`t. God preserved the line of David by hiding Joash for six years to sustain David`s line to own the kingdom, and at the end of the sixth year, the priests anointed Joash to be the king and killed Athaliah (if you read the next chapter over).

This is just another scripture to show that we cannot walk by sight but by faith trusting that Lord is faithful, and He will never fail His word. The whole nation was depressed that the promised Messiah, who was supposed to come out of the David`s line, was destroyed. None knew of Joash`s survival other than Jehosheba, who hid him and the priests.

It is crucial for us to remember that we cannot trust what we see and concentrate only on the current, but we have to test it against God`s word. Do my circumstances check against what God promised to those who love Him and seek His faith- no they do not check. I trust the Lord would bring all things together for good to bring His glory, and my current circumstances do not check against that, so I will believe against them. I will believe that although I don`t see the ultimate victory yet, it is to come soon.

I choose to put my trust in the Lord and not what I see. I keep reminding myself of the king Hezekiah who was silent himself and ordered everyone else to be silent when hearing the threats of defeat from the Assyrian men. Instead of looking at his current circumstances of defeat, he chose to trust in the Lord and walk by faith rather than by sight; he went to the temple and laid out all the threats in front of the Lord asking for His guidance and His victory. In the end God was faithful and He preserved Judah from the defeat and from the hand of the mighty and famouse at the time Assyrian king.

¹⁶ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you to a land like your own —a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.¹⁸“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says,‘The Lordwill deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ²⁰ Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” ²¹ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.” ²²Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said. (Isaiah 36:16-22 NIV)

This is what I pray about when hearing all these threats of defeat from Satan- ignore them and hold my tongue from replying regardless of how tempting it may be to prove myself right. All Hezekiah did was keeping silent, going to the Lord, and walking by his faith and not by sight.

These four main components I try to engrave in my heart to always do first before I provide any other reaction to my circumstances:

-     -  Ignore the threats of defeat which Satan loves to provide one way or another

-      - Hold my tongue from making any hasty comments or decisions

-      - Going to the Lord to seek His will

-      - Walking by faith and not by sight

It is very hard to do, yet this is exactly what Jesus did when He was about to be crucified: He didn`t accept His defeat because He knew the ultimate plan was to show God`s victory- to provide the only way of Salvation; He kept silent when Pilate and others attempted to make Him speak to prove “non-guilty” at the court; He went to the Lord at the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed for strength seeking Father`s will; Jesus walked by faith and not by sight knowing his Father face to face and knowing the current circumstances did not check against God`s word.

It requires the ultimate surrender, humbleness, and knowledge of the God`s character- all of which could only be appreciated through the personal relationships with our God. I came to the point of complete surrender regardless of how hard some days it is for me to seek my own justice; I made a decision to walk by faith and not by sight because I know that God is faithful, and He is true. He will provide His justice if only I would seek His will rather than my own will or wait for those “special moments” – emotional experiences which are misguiding at times.

I urge you to check everything against God`s word and if in doubt, go and search His word. I trained myself to do that, and it helps me to eliminate some costly mistakes or repent quickly enough before I harden my heart to the Holy Spirit`s conviction.