Next to Jesus, Solomon is considered the wisest man whoever lived. He penned
these words found on Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
do not lean to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and
He will direct your path”.
The path of Reason or the path of Faith
I have found from personal experience in walking with the Lord that many of His
paths and ways are not reasonable. And let me add, that’s a positive thing – for it
makes the Christian life an adventure. The Lord told “Abram get out of the land
your living in and go to the land I’ll show you.” Well how do you go to a land
when you don’t know where that land is? Well here’s the answer- start packing!
Yes, that’s the beginning of getting to the land the Lord has. See, faith doesn’t
know all the details, it simply responds and acts. Faith acts on the part it knows
and often the Lord only gives us a part. After we’ve taken the first step of faith
then He will show us the next. After all the scripture says, “The steps of a
righteous man are ordered of the Lord”. It doesn’t say the leaps of a righteous
man!
Noah’s Ark
Is it reasonable for a man to build a monstrous boat when there is no water in
sight? Is it reasonable to work 120 years on a boat when there has “never” been
rain on the earth. Is it reasonable to think that animals will come and get into
your boat? Yet Noah moved and acted in faith constructing the Ark. Acting on
God’s Word may seem unreasonable but for Noah it preserved his life and those
of his family. Always keep in mind your part is to obey when it seems
unreasonable, it’s Father God’s part to bring the flood and the animals. Also
understand that stepping out in faith may bring ridicule from others who lean to
reason.
9/11
On Monday September 10th 2001 a brother in the Lord was having his
devotional time and the Lord spoke to him and said. “Don’t go into work
tomorrow”. The brother responded to the Lord and said, but Lord we have a
contract to sign off on tomorrow. This brother worked in the Twin Towers/World
Trade Center in New York City. The Lord didn’t say anything more. Now the
brother could have leaned to his own reason, his own understanding or to the
pressure of his peers that he would face. He went to work that morning and told
his co-workers that he wouldn’t be coming in to work the next morning 9/11.
They objected and spoke of the contact, but he stood fast not yielding to reason
or to their pressure. They responded and said, well if you’re not coming in we
need not come in either. Can you see how one brothers obedience in faith not
only saved his life but the lives of his co-workers!!
Reason Can Cost You
Rick Renner is a minister and author of a number of Christian books. He speaks
on Christian TV at churches and conferences. He and his wife were staying in a
hotel while ministering at a conference. There were different speakers at this
conference and on one particular day Rick had a check in his spirit indicating
“Don’t go to the meeting today”. He didn’t hear those words but rather it was “a
knowing” he had when he got up that morning. He wasn’t speaking that day, but
it was expected that all the guest speakers would be present. This was simply
proper respect and protocol. He was wrestling with staying or going and he
mentioned it to his wife. She told him she had the same “knowing” as well,
“don’t go”. Here is an example where the Spirit of God had given them two red
flags but reason and pressure led to their going anyway. They both over-rode the
knowing in their hearts and left for the conference. Upon arrival Rick said to his
wife, “we can’t stay here we must return to the hotel”! Once they got back to
their room, it had been broken into and their things stolen. What made matters
so much worse was, Rick had left his computer in the room which contained
two books that were to be published! The computer and those books were now
lost and he had no back up copies anywhere. Reason cost them. Here is the
other side that you must understand, if they had stayed put in their room
operating in faith -Nothing would have happened! Their room wouldn’t have
been broken into and they would been left wondering-“Why did we stay here”?
You see, faith must operate on the part it knows, because the Lord often doesn’t
explain and give the details.
These examples not only contrast faith and reason but teach us how to be led
by the Spirit of God who dwells inside us.
Faith brings forth the miraculous
It’s not reasonable for a teenage boy whose name was David to face down a 9
foot 9 inch giant and to declare – today I will take your head from your
shoulders. Faith enabled David to destroy the giant and gave Israel a miraculous
victory over their enemy. It wasn’t reasonable for Israel’s men of war to march
around the city of Jericho in silence expecting to conquer it. In obedience to
God’s Word they marched around the city in total silence once a day for six days
and on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. And when
they had finished their seventh circle the priest blew their rams horns the people
shouted with a great shout and the miraculous occurred, the walls of the city fell
down flat!
Get in agreement with God
Believers are often defeated because they lean to their own understanding. They
are defeated in the realm of reason but when believers have their minds renewed
to God’s Word, when they agree with God’s Word and act on it, then the
miraculous will occur. Circumstances may shout at you, “You are finished, you
will not go any further, you are a mess and there is no hope”! But the good news
is – you can conquer by agreeing with God’s Word. Though the circumstances
shout at you; you say- “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens
me”!! You say, “If God be for me who can be against me”! You say, “All things
are possible to Him who believes”! You say, “Greater is He who is in me than he
who is in the world”. You say, “And my God shall supply all my needs according
to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”! Get yourself in agreement with God by
speaking His Word and the circumstances will bow their knee.