Faith in God ALONE

Faith in God ALONE

Jonah 2:8

"Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs"

This verse came to me during a time of frustration in my life.  A time when I thought I was "doing" everything right to bring forth the blessings and miracles that I had read and heard about.  It was in a moment of complete exhaustion that I sat and said "Okay God, I shouldn't be feeling frustrated in my walk.  Help me.  Show me".  And did you know that when you are honest He is so faithful to give you answers.  Honestly, He was trying to get the answer to me all the time but I was too busy "doing religion" to listen to Him speak faith.

So what does this mean?  Why was this a life changer for me?  Because ANYTHING can become and idol in your life.  Even your "religion" can become an idol.  

I was reading this morning in 1 Samuel 4.  Please go and read this chapter.  It talks about Israel going to battle against the Philistines.  They received a word from the Lord and went to battle.  They were defeated.  After their defeat they came home and began to question "why".  Why is such a dangerous word.  After they spent time questioning why they lost, they came to the conclusion that it was because they didn't take the Ark of the Covenant to War with them.  So they loaded up, and this time they took the Ark and went to battle.  They shouted their battle cry and were so certain that they would have victory.  Even the Philistines were scared because they knew the stories of the Ark in past battles.  Israel was certain they would be victorious and the Philistines were certain they would lose, BUT Israel was defeated AGAIN and the Ark was stolen!  WAIT, WHAT?!?  They did everything right!  Why in the worLd were they defeated?  

Here's a few things we didn't talk about.  Eli was currently the Judge over Israel and his two sons were living a really dark life.  They were stealing from the temple and they were having relations with the women who came to sacrifice.  Eli did little to nothing to stop them and if you rewind to 1 Samuel 2:34 it is prophesied that both of his sons would die on the same day.  Well guess who died in the battle against the Philistines?  His sons.

Next is, they were putting more faith in the holy object "the Ark" then in who was dwelling in the Ark.  Making the Ark their object of faith and affection rather than their Almighty God the Creator! I believe if they had turned their faith to the one dwelling in the Ark the two sons could have been defeated but Israel could have still had victory.  

How many times to we put our faith in our abilities rather than in Gods?  How many times do we think "but I'm doing everything right"?  How many times to we forget the things He has spoken over certain events in our lives?  God is not a liar that He should go back on His word.  How many times do we believe that our source is money, church, religion, knowledge, wisdom, etc. rather than the one who created us?  

Next time you are feeling frustrated STOP!  Ask yourself, am I walking in faith in God my Father?  Or is my faith in ANY OTHER THING? (that includes even the "good" things in life.)  REMEMBER GOD IS GOOD, BUT GOOD IS NOT ALWAYS GOD!