believing

Beliefs

If there was a time in my life when I could have become an agnostic or atheist, it would probably have been when I was getting my master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Science. The school I attended was not only secular, but extremely liberal. There were several openly gay and lesbian students in my class and the primary focus of the program was humanistic behaviorism. During my application interview, I shared that I had recently found out my husband was having an affair. I was told I would most likely not make it through the program unless I divorced him.

Proverbs 16:3 tells us to “commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” When we commit our works to the LORD, we are giving God ownership or control of our activities. What we do is for his glory and for the benefit of his kingdom. The word translated thoughts, machashabah is derived from the word chashab which “signifies a mental process whereby some course is planned or conceived. It means ‘to think, account, reckon, devise, plan'” (2803). The word translated established, kuwn “can refer to a concept as ‘established’ or ‘fixed’ so as to be unchanging and unchangeable” (3559).

In order to learn, a certain amount of open-mindedness is required. I was 39 years old and had been a Christian for 19 years when I began my master’s program, so I was pretty set in my ways and thought there was little chance my beliefs would be altered by what I experienced. About  halfway through the program, my belief system began to crumble. What I discovered was that love was the only basis for establishing relationships with my fellow students. God’s command to love my neighbor as myself became real and a personal challenge that got me through the program successfully.

 

He will answer

A personal testimony is a unique attestation to the truth of a particular scripture based on individual experience. When we share our testimony, we are validating God’s word. I can personally attest to the verse, “They called upon the LORD, and he answered them” (Psalm 99:6) because I have experienced it.

On the night I overdosed on sleeping pills, I called upon the LORD and he answered me. I said, “God, all I want to do is come and be with you in heaven and take care of the little babies there.” Immediately, I heard a voice, not my own, say, “Some day you will come and be with me, but until that time, I have much work for you to do where you are.”

My own experience validated the words found in Psalm 99:6, therefore, I believe they are true. This truth is what I would describe as a foundational truth. Much of the Bible is based on the fact that we are able to communicate with God. When we speak to God, he can hear us. He listens and he responds in an understandable way.

The purpose of a personal testimony is explained in Psalm 98:2. “The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” When the LORD saves a person, he expects him to talk about it, but often times a person that has been saved doesn’t have to talk about it because people can see what God had done, “for he hath done marvelous things” (Psalm 98:1).

The word translated marvelous, pala’ means to “be beyond one’s power to do” (6381). On the night I overdosed on sleeping pills, I took two handfuls of pills and laid down to go to sleep. I listened to music for about half an hour. Just as I was about to fall asleep, knowing I would never wake up again, that I was about to die, I spoke to God for the first time in my life. I didn’t expect him to answer. The fact that he did answer could be a miracle, I don’t know if the same thing has ever happened to anyone else but, what I am certain of is that I am alive today because God kept me from dying. If he had not responded, I would have fallen asleep and never woke up.

It says in Acts 2:21, “and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I believe this verse is true, but I can’t personally attest to its validity. The word whosoever means everyone (3588, 3739, 3956). I can only say that I am one of the everyone and it is true for me.

Harden not your heart

It is natural for us to want our own way. Everyone has likes and dislikes, preferences that guide our behavior. God’s preferences are established through election, a divine selection process that results in one person being favored over another (1589) such as with Jacob and Esau. “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13).

God’s ways are likened to a road that represents a course of life or mode of action (1870). When Jesus walked on the earth, he followed a particular pathway that he referred to as the will of his Father. Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:39). The Greek word translated will, thelema (thel´ – ay – mah) means choice, “what one wishes or has determined shall be done” (2307).

In Psalm 95, God is referred to as our Maker. It says in verses 6 – 7, “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” The act of kneeling or bowing down before the LORD is an act of submission. It shows that we are willing to honor his preferences above our own.

In Psalm 95, we are instructed, “To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness” (Psalm 95:7-8). In order to hear God’s voice, we must give him our undivided attention (8085). The word translated harden, qâshâh (kaw – shaw´) means to be dense. It conveys the idea of not being able to get through to someone. “This word marks the restlessness, impatience, petulance, and irritability with which Pharaoh’s course of action was characterized while he was resisting the urgent appeals of both Moses and his own people” (7185).

Many times when God speaks to us, we don’t pay attention because we are too busy or have already decided what we think will work best for us. It took the Israelites 40 years to get to the point where they were willing to give God’s way a chance. They vacillated between going forward to the Promised Land and heading back to Egypt where they had been slaves for hundreds of years. The bottom line was they didn’t understand God’s ways and were unwilling to step out in faith (Psalm 95:10).

A cry of distress

God, the creator of the universe, has made it possible for everyone to know him and to have access to his strength. All that one has to do is call upon his name and the LORD answers. Even babies with very little intellectual capability are able to access God’s power and defeat their enemies.

David said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightiest still the enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2). The word translated still, shabâth (shaw – bath´) means to repose or desist from exertion (7673). In other words, stillness is the opposite of work, the effort to accomplish a task.

It may be hard to imagine that a baby has enemies, but from the day a person is born, there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm for the soul of that person. In the most basic form of communication, a baby is able to call on the name of the LORD and receive God’s protection. The baby that cries out in distress is not only heard by her mother, but by her heavenly father, the one who created her.

We choose what to believe

It is assumed that whatever we believe is true, but everything we believe is not true. Sometimes we believe that fairy tales are true; and think that by believing them, we can make them come true. In reality, what is true today is true tomorrow, things do not become true unless the facts change. Therefore, it is important that we know all the facts and choose to believe what is unlikely to change.

David said, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them, from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7). The word translated preserve, nâtsar (naw – tsar´) means to guard, to watch or keep (5341). God is very careful about what he says and always keeps his word, meaning that he does what he says he is going to, no matter how long it takes.

David asked four questions in Psalm 13 that indicate he believed some things that were not true. He asked, “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2).

David believed that the LORD had forgotten him, that he was hiding his face from David or not listening to his prayers. David believed that he had to rely on his own counsel because his enemy, Absalom had taken over as king. In reality, none of those things were true. David was still the rightful king of Israel and his escape was part of God’s plan to restore the kingdom to him.

I think the reason David fell into despair and began to believe lies about his enemy was because he felt like a failure as a father. He probably thought he deserved to be punished for what had happened to his daughter, Tamar. What he didn’t realize was that nothing had changed. David was as close, maybe even closer to the LORD than he had ever been.

David’s language of impatience in Psalm 13 was a sign of his healthy relationship with the LORD. His boldness in wrestling with God indicates David knows that his current situation is not what God wants for him. He is expressing an anguish of relief not (yet) granted and revealing his conviction concerning God’s righteousness (note on Psalm 6:3). David closes Psalm 13 with a return to the truth and declares, “My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the LORD because he hath dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6).

Make it happen

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). Not everything a person believes is true. Even though everything God says is true, not every person believes it. What Jesus was saying in this statement was that when we believe what is true, we give that truth the power to work in our lives.

In 2 Samuel chapter 7 it is recorded that the prophet Nathan delivered a message to king David about the establishment of his kingdom. Afterwards, David prayed and said, “And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou  hast promised this goodness unto thy servant” (2 Samuel 7:28). The word translated true, ’emeth (eh´ – meth) is derived from the word ’âman (aw – man´) which means to trust or believe (539). The word aman is found in Genesis 15:7 where it says that Abraham “believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

The transaction that occurs when we believe what God says is called imputation. Basically, what happens is that God is free to make it happen. God’s blessings do not flow freely from heaven because of the choice or free will God has given us to live our lives without his help. He does not interfere or intercede unless we ask him to. When God speaks to us personally, it is as if he is saying, I can do this, but I only will if you want me to. It is within our power to say yes or no.

David said in 2 Samuel 7:25, “And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.” David was agreeing with God’s word and making it possible for him to make it happen without any interference from the devil. If David had not agreed, what God said would still be true, but David’s resistance (unbelief) would have hindered the process.

The word translated established, qûwm (koom) refers to destiny and can signify empowering or strengthening. “It is also used to denote the inevitable occurrence of something predicted or prearranged” (6965). The word translated promised in 2 Samuel 7:28, dâbar (daw – bar´) actually means to arrange. When God spoke to David through the prophet Nathan, what he said had already been arranged. It was possible, but it wasn’t assured of happening until David believed it was true.