How To Faith It!
Facing Problems
Ashamed of having a
problem? It’s a common feeling
among Christians. We are somehow above difficulty – or at least should be. But
the Old Testament is full of people who didn’t expect God to protect them from
struggles and were not embarrassed by them as we are today. They experienced
victory, yes, but only because they fought.
Nehemiah attacked his problems head on.
His task was to rebuild
There was plenty to discourage the
returning Israelites. Mockery was one of the first ploys used against Nehemiah
by his enemies. “He [Sanballat] spoke in the presence of his brothers … What
are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they
offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the
dusty rubble even the burned ones?” (Neh. 4:2).
Imagine the laughter and ridicule as
Tobiah the Ammonite joined in: “… if a fox should jump on it, he would break
their stone wall down” (4:3).
Mockery was designed to demoralize, so
Nehemiah had to take the initiative. His first action is instructive to
contemporary Christians. He immediately committed the matter to the Lord.
Nehemiah knew that before we pray it is our problem; after we pray, it is
God’s.
“Hear, O our God, how we are despised,” he
prayed (vs. 4). His abruptness conveys how Nehemiah and the people so
thoroughly depended upon God.
It isn’t wrong to pray “on the run,” nor irreverent to come into the presence of God quickly – anywhere
or anytime. God has dignity, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t available. “Let us
draw near with confidence to the throne of grace,” Paul exhorted the Hebrews, “so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb.
Such an attitude of prayer shouldn’t
exclude the little things. When I suggested to a college student that he pray
about a problem, he said, “I can’t bother God with that.” But little things,
like termites, can eat away at us and defeat us. A few verses in Philippians
urge us to pray about all things: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto
God” (Phil. 4:6-7).
On a recent camping trip, I realized that
I am a God addict. I skipped devotions for a couple of days and became very
grouchy and unhappy. But what’s wrong with being addicted to God? William Glasser, a prominent psychiatrist, says that everyone is
addicted to something – what’s important is whether or not it is something
beneficial. No addiction is more beneficial and positive than prayer.
But prayer is only the beginning of the
problem-solving process. Too often we stop instead of start with prayer. It is
not a magical formula that ends our problems, once and for all.
Nehemiah prayed about his problem and then
faced it. “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard
against them day and night” (Neh. 4:9). It is not a conflict of faith
when we attack our problems. Though some problems defy solutions and require
only patient prayer, it is a sign of health when we face them.
Some people retreat from difficulties or
deny they exist. Many are ashamed of their struggles because of the prevalent
attitude that a Christian life should be problem-free. We hear of people who
have been delivered of faults and temptations and think it should be the same
with us. We confuse being saved from sin with being saved from struggle. But
faith doesn’t spare us from the battle; it prepares us to face it.
PRAYER CAN BE dangerous whenever it
becomes a substitute for needed action. Moses and
Take Malcolm Jones. Traveling in a light
airplane, he and his friend crashed in the Florida Everglades. In pitch
darkness he discovered that his friend was bleeding profusely. With only the
moonlight to guide him, Jones started through the swamps for medical
assistance. But soon he met a terrifying obstacle. Wading in chest-high water,
he saw in front of him a row of green eyes. In the middle was a larger pair of
eyes, widely separated. He was in an alligator nest.
As Jones faced the mother alligator, her
babies beside her, a voice within him said, “Lo, I am with you always.”
Grasping that promise, he walked straight towards the glowing eyes, talking as
he went. “Mother alligator, I’m not going to hurt you
or your children, but I’ve got to go for help for my friend.” The alligator
bellowed fiercely, then suddenly quieted and swam away, followed by her
offspring. Though he did not count, Jones said he must have walked through a
dozen alligators’ nests to eventually save his friend’s life and learn an
unforgettable lesson: Always face your problems.
The experiences of Nehemiah and Malcolm
Jones suggest a simple motto for Christians today – after praying about a
problem, faith it.
But Nehemiah went even further in
attacking the problem. His enemies tried again to defeat him, this time by
distracting the workmen with rumors of war and ambush. Nehemiah responded by
urging the people to continue working while holding their weapons: “…half my
servants,” he explains in Neh. 4:16, 17, “carried on the work while half of
them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates … Those who
were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one
hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon.”
Nehemiah was not sidelined by his
difficulties. His example supplies us with another important life principle: continue
building.
Too often we come to terms with our
problems at the expense of completing a worthwhile task. A housewife resigns
from her Sunday school class because of marital problems. Or a young person,
struggling through school, gives up on Christ. Perhaps a church leader
considers surrendering his ministry because of a business setback.
Obsessed with our own difficulties, jobs
are left unfinished. I recently felt like giving up my ministry. I had to
remind myself that it is all right to have problems. People who accomplish
something are not only those who get the breaks, but those who are not broken.
Success requires building, despite the hardships.
Dr.
Charles Sell
Moody,
March 1978