By Staff
Faith in God can be pseudo, in that, we hear and see others live a life of trust. We can be encouraged, challenged, and even adopt good life values without having a personal faith in God that would cause us to fall on our face before Him and vibrantly declare, "This is my God!"
In the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapter 24, there is the story of Abraham's servant going on a trip to find a bride for Abraham's son, Isaac.
This servant had been with Abraham for years and had seen Abraham's faith increase steadily. The birth of Isaac was a miracle (Genesis 18:11-15). This servant doubtless had been there when Abraham took 318 of his men and defeated an army of multiple kings (Genesis 14:14-16).
In Abraham's later years, he sent this servant to a far country on a mission to find just the right bride for Isaac. The only guideline Abraham gave the servant was that the girl had to be from Abraham's home country; she could not be a Canaanite. Abraham had not been home for years; he had no idea who existed in his family.
The servant traveled to the right place, and when he arrived, he prayed, "O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham" (Genesis 24:12). The prayer of the servant reveals that he knew of Abraham's God and based his request on the relationship Abraham had with God. The prayer continued, "Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'-let her be the one . . . ."
Before the prayer was finished, a girl came, the servant asked her for a drink, and she quickly offered to water the camels also. His prayer seemed to have been answered almost instantaneously. Genesis, chapter 24, verse 21, states, "The man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not."
This was a moment of discovery. The assignment was difficult and critical, and the servant was under great pressure to fulfill the mission of his master. The prayer might have been more desperation than faith, but now it seemed that God was performing the exact script the servant had outlined. True faith may be born in this kind of circumstance.
We falsely assume we can live on the faith of others, but there comes a time when faith must be ours-we must choose to trust God and cultivate a personal relationship with Him.
The Old Testament prophet Elisha was on the scene when his master Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11-12). Elisha had served Elijah for a long time and desired the kind of relationship with God that Elijah had. After Elijah was gone, Elisha picked up Elijah's mantle, walked back to the river, hit the water with the mantle, and cried out, "Where is the LORD God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). The waters divided and Elisha walked through the river. That day, in that incident, the God of Elijah became the God of Elisha.
After Abraham's servant witnessed the answer to his prayer, he said, "Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me . . ." (Genesis 24:27). Those three words, "as for me," show us that this servant had personalized his faith in God. We are also told in verse 26, that "the man [had] bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD."
Pseudo faith had become true faith. I doubt this man was ever the same again. God was real. It was not just Abraham's God, it was now, "My God!"
We must come to the point where we believe God is and that He leads us and answers our prayers (Heb. 11:6). Faith in God is personal faith.