Bible Studies

THE POSITIVES OF FAITH

by Luella Campbell
04/09/15
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THE POSITIVES OF FAITH

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets who, through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again (Heb. 11: 32-35a).

In this glorious hall of faith, there were many who experienced massive victories in the face of overwhelming odds.

During the time of the judges, when the Israelites had no strong leader after Joshua's death, the lure of the paganism of the Canaanites around them sucked them back into idolatry and brought God's anger upon them. Their enemies overran them time and again. When they cried out to God for mercy, He heard them and sent deliverers like Gideon, Barak and Jephthah to drive back the enemy. Gideon, for example, triumphed over the hoard of Midianites with a measly three hundred men because God fought for them.

David and Samuel were giants in the history of God's people. Samuel's birth to a barren mother was a miracle to begin with. Against all odds, he led Israel in a time of apostasy, and kept the Canaanites at bay although he was not a military man. He appointed David to be king at God's command after Saul's failure to live up to his anointing.

David's faith is legendary. As a stripling teenager, he ripped wild animals apart to protect his father's sheep. He brought down the Philistine champion with a sling and a single stone. He rose in the ranks of the Israelite army to become a great warrior and loyal supporter of Saul in spite of Saul's jealousy and murderous hatred. During his reign, he extended the borders of Israel to its greatest in Israel's history by defeating the surrounding nations. He became known as "a man after God's own heart" and the model of all of Judah's kings.

God raised up great prophets after Samuel to walk beside the kings as advisors and confidantes. Some were valued as partners by godly kings. Others were imprisoned and even murdered because their message was unpalatable to evil men who insisted on polluting God's people and God's land with filthy idols.

Some had a powerful influence on kings and rulers in foreign governments where they were taken as exiles. Daniel served in the empires of Babylon and Persia from teenage to old age as a wise administrator and loyal subject to pagan kings. His faith in the God of Israel, however, took him through exposure to possible death more than once but he did not flinch. Whether he lived or died was irrelevant. He remained faithful to the God he served. He and his companions were miraculously rescued time and again, and Daniel even led the great Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, to faith in his God.

Elijah and Elisha served God in the idolatrous northern kingdom of Israel, moving among the people to call them back to Yahweh. Elijah took on the wicked Jezebel and her four hundred prophets of Baal in a contest of faith on Mount Carmel. He stood alone against them but God was there. God sent divine fire so hot that it burned up everything, reducing even the stones of the altar to ash before the eyes of the watchers.

These two prophets raised dead boys to life through their faith in God.

God was alive and active among His people in response to the faith of those who loved Him because He loved His people and because they needed His intervention. Through their faith He revealed His authority and power over the false gods they worshipped although they turned their backs on Him time and again.

The history of God's people is alive with God's involvement with them. If ever a people should have known that the God they served was real and was with them, it was the Israelites - and yet, they turned away from Him to worship the gods of wood and stone. Was it because they preferred the sinful lifestyle their idol gods stood for? Their God demanded a standard of righteousness and holiness that was unattainable except through faith, and most of them had no appetite for Him.

But those who did, few as they were by comparison, made it into God's book of life and were the recipients of His miraculous partnership with them because that's who He is, the God who is still with us and for us if we are for Him.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son - The Way to the Father's Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You'll love it! Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.