“Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses,
and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are
very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the
Lord!” – Isaiah 31:1
We understand by the Word of God that every man is given a
measure of faith. Faith enough to save
his own soul if that soul so chooses.
The question is not where is your faith?
That is to say if you have it or not; but rather, where is your
faith? As in, where have you placed
it? To what are you trusting in?
It is a common practice in our nation today to “invest.” Right now hundreds of thousands of Americans
are taking their hard earned money and giving it to certain companies with the
hope that those companies will grow and give them a return on their
investment. There are magazines,
websites, television stations, and stock brokers out there trying to feed the
common man information on where to place their funds. This is because the key to making money in
investing is investing in the right place.
The truth is we are all investing in something; in our kids, in our
jobs, in our cars, in our homes, in ourselves, we put energy and effort into
these things hoping for a return.
Wouldn’t it be nice if this nation spent as much or more time and energy
seeking out information on where to put their faith, as they did on where to
put their money? God has given to every man
a measure of faith, like a measure of seed to a farmer or a measure of flour to
a baker this faith is given to us with a preconceived purpose. The faith that is given has a predestined
destination and like a seed; unless it is sown it “good ground” it will never
bring forth life. When you trust in
horses and chariots; putting your faith in the things of this world, and go
down to Egypt for help; it is ill placed and will never bring forth life. When I was lost in sin, I had faith, but it
was ill placed, it was faith in myself.
I was strong enough, fast enough, and smart enough to take on this
life. I was wrong. There are many out there today who have
faith, it is just ill placed; and because it is ill placed their faith is dead
and their soul is in turn dead as well.
If you place a watermelon seed on the side walk would you expect to come
back several months later and find a watermelon? You would find nothing, because the faith is
ill placed and therefore the fruit is forever absent. However if you sow in good soil, water and
care for that seed, by and by you will have fruit. So it is with your faith, when sown in the
right soil, so the question is not: “Do I have faith?” It is “Where is your
faith?” The location of it determines
the life or death of your soul.
Thankfully, the Bible not only tells us that we have faith, but
also where to put our faith. We must
place our given, predestined faith in Jesus Christ. How do we do that? Well, let us look to the greatest instruction
our hands can hold, our Bibles. The 11th
chapter of Hebrews gives of many examples of people who “invested” their faith
in the right place. Their faith had two
ingredients, belief and obedience. They
accepted what God told them to be true and they obeyed without question. A lot like kids do right? Not quite, but it’s what good parents would
like them to do. So our heavenly Father
wishes the same for us. He wants us to
believe His Word and obey. In believing
and obeying Jesus Christ and the word he has left on record for us, our well placed
faith will come to life and bear much fruit.
