Living In The Tension Between Trusting God and Living By Facts

Church Family:
Is trusting God opposed to living by facts? In other words, should we always be practical Christians who are responsible and cautious, not prone to take risks, always sniffing out facts and figures and possibilities to do an analysis to determine success or failure before we move forward in faith? Or should we be bold, daring and entrepreneurial in our faith moving forward trusting God no matter what the facts and risks reveal? Or do we do both, live in the tension between trusting in God and the reality of facts?

In Ezra 8, Ezra finds himself stuck between faith and facts. He was leading a caravan of around 5000 men, women and children on a journey about 1000 miles to Jerusalem carrying, in today’s value, over $223 million worth of gold and silver. He knew that the long journey would be filled with evil thieves and gangs wanting to rob them of all they had. There were no police, no cell phones, no GPS, and no fast-food stops. Ezra could have asked King Artexerxes for “soldiers and horsemen to protect them against the hand of the enemy and from ambushes” but he did not ask. Ezra had looked at the facts and chose to move forward in faith declaring to the king that the “the hand of our God is for good on all who seek Him, and the power of His wrath is against all who forsake Him.” After making this proclamation to the king, Ezra determined that He needed to completely trust God and His promises, not the kings soldiers, to do otherwise would minimize God’s glory in the work He had called Ezra to accomplish.

But wait, Ezra was also a man who gathered together his people to give them tasks and strategy based on facts, figures and needs. He gave them accountability and responsibility and direction. He called them all to be involved in an extraordinary work of prayer and fasting to God for His protection since he led them to forego the ordinary means of the king's protection that was available for them. Ezra lived in the tension between trusting in God and living in the reality of facts.

Many times in our lives we also find ourselves in situations where we must choose to trust God to work in the face of facts that look bleak, grim and hopeless. We must take God at His word and move forward as Ezra did. We must be ready to look at facts and still decide to trust God to work apart from them, giving God greater glory. We must do an extraordinary risky work because to do the opposite would reflect poorly on God.

See you Sunday, trusting God to work: Steve