Fuel For Our Faith

Fuel for Our Faith

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28

THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS—those stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons—are filled with encouraging truths. They also reveal a really dysfunctional family lineage. We read of great faith and miraculous interventions but also of semi-legitimate children, stolen birthrights, competitive pregnancies, betrayal, rape, vengeance, and much more that we would not wish for in the context of our own families. Yet this is where the twelve tribes of Israel, the covenant God made with his people, and the promises of an everlasting Kingdom come from. We have no idea what the story would have been like if everyone had behaved well. We only know that God had already compensated for their dysfunction in advance. His plan, formed before the foundation of the world, already took the messiness of life into account.

That’s really encouraging for those of us who struggle with deep regrets. It’s also encouraging for those who pray for God’s Kingdom to come in our lives and the lives of those around us. It means we can go ahead and praise God for everything, even the things we wish had never happened. We can worship from the middle of the mess rather than from an unreachable expectation beyond it. The praise and gratitude with which we enter his gates are not dependent on the level of dysfunction in our lives or the world around us. We can sing his praises at the top of our lungs, believing that he works everything together for the good of those who love him.

Knowing that God works all of life into his good purposes is empowering in faith and prayer and disempowering to bitterness, regret, and fear, which war against our faith and prayer. The problems and mistakes others might see as evidence against our worship can actually fuel it. We know who God is, and we know he is bigger than our past, present, and future. Our discouragement is undone, and our prayers—filled with praise and thanks—rise up in faith.

Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in his glory. Think of what he can do, and how he delights to hear the prayers of his redeemed people.