“God Says”

“God Says”

Scripture cannot be broken. John 10:35, ESV

THE GAME “SIMON SAYS” trains children to listen carefully to the words being spoken. Whichever instructions are preceded by the phrase “Simon says” are to be followed; whichever ones are not are to be ignored. Young minds get confused in the midst of rapid-fire commands and react with a false step without Simon’s authorization. But after a while, they learn to focus exclusively on that phrase. If they hear it, they tune in. If they don’t, they tune out. Whoever does that the best wins the game.

That’s a fabulous illustration of faith. When we base a prayer on a God-given promise or expression of his will, we are anchoring ourselves in truth. But we very often find ourselves growing discouraged the next day—or even the next hour—when we see evidence that contradicts the direction of our prayer. Is that evidence real? Only if prefaced by “God says.” Otherwise, it’s false evidence that fakes us out. If we are going to be consistent in our faith, we have to learn to tune in to every word that’s preceded by “God says” and tune out to every word—or picture or hearsay or mood—that isn’t.

That’s how faith works. What God says matters. What other people say, do, think, or feel has no bearing on God’s purposes. We jump when we see a negative shift in circumstances, a threatening situation, an unfortunate decision, or some other contradiction to our prayer. But if God didn’t tell us to change our thinking, we are like children who jump instinctively at an unauthorized command. We have to learn the discipline of ignoring non-truth.

Whether in instructions, commands, promises, encouragements, prohibitions, freedoms, or any other inspired word, Scripture cannot be broken. We may wonder about correct interpretation, but we can never let our wondering undermine God’s clear promises to us. We are never told to respond instinctively to the situations around us as though they are the truth about what God is doing. Only God’s expressed intentions are the truth about what he is doing. That’s where we anchor our faith and eventually win the “game.”

On these [promises] we are to build all our expectations from God; and in all temptations and trials, we have them to rest our souls upon.