“And many lepers were in Israel in the time of
Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” –
Luke 4:27
Man’s logic would
dictate that intelligence, information, and education ought to increase faith
and belief. The idea is, the information I obtain about something, the
easier it is to believe in its existence and trust its power. However, this is not always true in the
scriptures. Those with the most complete
mental grasp of God’s laws, rejected the Son of God. The people who were
given the best access to information, had minimal faith in Him. When you study the Word of God you find that only
belief produces belief, faith produces faith, and that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Christ while attending
church on the sabbath, stood up and read the passage from Isaiah 61:1: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek….” He then sat down and told the people that “this day was the scripture fulfilled in their
ears.” They responded with “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Jesus then told them that a prophet is not
accepted in in his own country. He went
on to point out that many widows were in Israel at the time of Elijah, but to
none of them was he sent, save a woman in Sidon. Many lepers in Israel at
the time of Elisha, but none of them were cleansed save Naaman the Syrian. The widow women did not live in Israel, she
was in a neighboring city outside of the boarders of Canaan land. It is entirely possible that she had never
even been to Jerusalem or worshiped at Solomon’s temple. Naaman the leper,
was a man of esteem and great wealth, he might have had access to learning and
information about the ways of the Jews, but he didn’t even know who Elisha
was. A little Jewish maid had to point
him in the right direction. Neither of
these two individuals knew very much, if anything, when it comes to the law of
God or the history of his people. They certainly didn’t know what the people
of Israel knew, but that didn’t stop God from working in their life. The people of Israel were God’s people, they
had intelligence, information, and education.
However, they lacked a key component; belief. Here Jesus is preaching to them and I imagine
that there were some there quoting the scripture right along with him.
They knew, they just didn’t believe.
This is because they believed too much in their knowing. Are not we all in danger of the same
trap? Convinced of our intelligence to a
point that we are subject to disbelief in the Spirit? Either so steeped in the worlds intelligence
we devalue the power of God. Or so
haughty in our scriptural intelligence we forget to trust as children of God? Intellectually, we know what Jesus can do, we
know who he is, we know where he is if we need to find Him; and because we are
convinced in our own mind what he can do; we think we know what he can’t
do. Simply because we think we know who
he is, we readily deduce who he is not, and because we think we know where to
find him, we quit looking. The mind has
drawn lines, built up barriers, and limited the power of God. Seeking God is a heart matter as much as it
is a head matter. Simply because you
heard it preached, or seen it lived, you can quote the scriptures and sing the
songs; doesn’t imply that you know Jesus.
Jesus is only known through the Spirit.
To try to understand him any other way is to limit His power. To try to follow Him any other way is to rob
from His due glory.
The first faith is building
more faith. It takes a little bit of faith to trust in Jesus and repent.
Once you repent, he forgives, and that grace gives you more faith. When you press on, die out, and wait on His
Spirit; he sends it. Then you have “the
faith” and as you grow and trust, it builds more faith. Breaking with your
assumed intelligence of Christ and living in obedience to Christ in you; this
is the first step to “understand what the
will of the Lord is.” “For by grace are ye save through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
