Is your faith alive or dead?

When the people of Israel came to the borders of the Promised Land, they came across a decision they had to make. Inside the land were giants before whom they themselves seemed to be like grasshoppers. They could either go forward believing that God who had dealt with them so far miraculously with supernatural powers would keep His promise to give them the land, or turn back deciding that it was impossible for them. Except for Joshua and Caleb, all the rest of them chose to turn back. As a result, they were unable to enter the land of promise, and also, they all perished in the desert.

It might seem on a superficial glance that these people who perished also had a form of faith. They believed in the true God, and at Mount Sinai they agreed to keep all His commandments. They could say that all the supernatural things they experienced from God were because of their faith in Him. Yet they perished, and did not receive what He had promised. Was something lacking in their faith?

When the possibility of being killed by the giants came up, they could not trust in God believing that He would keep His promise and take them in to possess the land. They thought of the risk of being killed by the giants, and at that point it became clear that they did not really trust God. What it tells us is that if our faith is not alive in such a way as to enable us to take action based on that, it shows that such a faith is really 'dead' and not real (Jas.2:17). Imaginary faith cannot save us, but it appears that many who consider themselves to be Christians have only this imaginary kind of faith which does not help them in real life situations.

For example, anxiety about the future can be like a giant for us. The future can be so uncertain, and the possibilities can be very frightening. How can anyone be at rest in his mind if he starts thinking of what all is happening in this world? Yet God promises His children rest. The key to that rest is that we depend on God rather than our skills, knowledge, experience, money, influence, etc. (He.4:10). When we consider real possibilities, we can have rest if we pass our dependence from ourselves to God. That is a situation similar to what Israel went through at the entrance of the Promised Land. The question is if we will make that switch, from depending on ourselves to depending on God who is almighty, all wise, all knowing and all loving, who has promised to be with us always and never to abandon us (He.13:5).

It involves the exercise of our will to make a choice between God and our resources. All the knowledge of God which we have received from the Bible, and all the experiences He has given us so far must lead us to trust Him at this point. If we do not, we must realise that we do not actually believe in God. It is not just about human weaknesses, but whether we believe in God to save us and to take care of us. It is a matter of life or death, because our salvation comes only through faith.