04/05/2017
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Faith, Not Feelings, Pleases God
by Rick Warren
âNaked I came from my motherâs womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praisedâ (Job 1:21 NIV).
When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers so youâll know he exists. But as you grow in faith, he will wean you of these dependencies.
Godâs omnipresence and the manifestation of his presence are two different things. One is a fact; the other is often a feeling. God is always present, even when you are unaware of him, and his presence is too profound to be measured by mere emotion.
Yes, he wants you to sense his presence, but heâs more concerned that you trust him than that you feel him. Faith, not feelings, pleases God.
The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything â his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. Most discouraging, for 37 chapters, God said nothing!
How do you praise God when you donât understand whatâs happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when theyâre full of tears? You do what Job did: âThen he fell to the ground in worship and said: âNaked I came from my motherâs womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praisedââ (Job 1:20b-21 NIV).
Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that youâre feeling. Job did this when he said, âI canât be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speakâ (Job 7:11 GNT).
He cried out when God seemed distant: âOh, for the days when I was in my prime, when Godâs intimate friendship blessed my houseâ (Job 29:4 NIV).
God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions. You can bring everything to him in prayer.
Talk It Over
In what ways can you show God that you trust him even when you donât feel his presence?
What are some of the things you can praise God for, even when you donât understand whatâs happening in your life?