People give all kinds of reasons for their faith.  Some will say that they believe in God because their mother or father taught them to believe.  Some will say they were inspired by stories from the Bible.  Another says that he believes because Christian theology makes the most sense to him, logically.  Yet another group will say that they have faith in God because of significant answers to prayer.  And it goes on from there.

When I first encountered Christians who talked fervently about believing in God because the Bible says that we should do so, it was difficult for me to identify with them.  For me such comments were illogical.  Not because I rejected the Bible in any way but because, for me, believing the Bible came only after I believed in God.  I believe what God says in Scripture because I believe in God.

But faith does not show itself in recognizable ways in all people in the exact same ways.

For Moses, faith in God seemed to be born while he was herding his father-in-law’s flocks one day. First, there was a remarkable sight: a bush was on fire and yet not consumed.  And then God’s voice came to Moses.

For Joshua, however, faith in the Lord seemed to grow from hearing and seeing the things God said and did through Moses.  Moses taught Joshua about God, describing His ways and explaining His truth.  And then, after Moses died, Joshua had opportunity to see God work powerfully in his own life.

Adam and Eve had met with God and had come to know Him casually in their evening walks.  Their sons knew something about the Lord from what their parents told them.  Yet Abel had a living, active faith in God which prompted him to worship the Lord.  Cain on the other hand appears to have had no real link in his heart to the Lord.  After killing his brother, and then being confronted with the crime by the Lord, Cain was able to turn and walk away from the Presence of God (Genesis 4:16).

People in our society have many ideas about God.  Their faith in Him varies greatly.  And the reasons for that faith (whatever it may be) are as varied as the faith itself.  Many are like Cain.  They do not really doubt that God exists, and yet they are not drawn to Him.  They have no desire to live in His Presence or to worship Him.

Many others of us know God because we have met Him.  At some point along the way, God has made Himself known to us in a way that changed us forever.  And others of us came to know the Lord through the lives and teachings of others.  We may not have had much faith in the beginning, but now, like Joshua, we are determined that we and our household will serve the Lord.

Abel was drawn to God and to worship.  Something fundamental had happened deep inside of Him.  His gratitude to the Lord, expressed in his offering of the first of his flock, was real.  His action was not required by any law.  He simply wanted to give back to God a gift.  How much of his behavior was influenced by mom or dad, we don’t know.  But we know that his gift was approved by God while Cain’s gift was not.

Is it not the same today?  The reasons why people give whatever they give to God are varied as the ideas they have about the Lord.  Some feel duty-bound to give portions of their income, their time, their abilities to God, while others give because their hearts are moved to do so.  And many of us give for reasons that are some mixture of these two.

God knows the hearts of all.  He knows the measure of our faith and the reasons why we believe.  He knows why we do the things we do, and why we say what we say.  He knows when mere religion is at work in us, when we are doing whatever we do because we know others are watching us, and when real faith is at work, when we truly act and speak toward God Himself.

I don’t really think it matters to God why we believe or why we think we believe in Him.  He knows that none of us would know Him at all if He remained silent and hidden.  We do not hunger and thirst for God on our own.  Any yearning we have for the Lord is the result of His own grace at work in us.

God is always the “first cause” of any measure of genuine faith we might have in Him, and even for any real desire to honestly pursue the truth about Him.  It may seem that we made the first move toward God, but that is only because we tend not to notice much of what God is doing in all human lives every day.

I believe in God because my mother began to talk to me about God in ways that made sense to me when I was very young.  I believe in God because God had already been at work in my mother’s life, long before I was born.  I believe in God because God Himself has intervened in my life at significant times, sparing my life, answering desperate prayers, compelling me to respond to the gospel, and bearing witness to the words I read in Scripture.

I have not always been conscious of God’s working or Presence in my life but, looking back, I know that He is always there and that He has always been there in the past.  God has spoken to me many times in countless ways, through many events and circumstances.  He has made Himself known to me and He continues to help me discover and understand His ways.

When I read the Scriptures (the only rock solid witness we have in today’s world of the truth of God, and of Jesus Christ His Son), His Spirit is present to instruct me and to bear witness to the truth offered me there.  When I am in dark times or fearful times, God is there, guiding me and giving me the courage to go forward.  When everything around me is chaotic and the future is the most uncertain, the Lord of heaven and earth is my laughter and song.  he is my rejoicing and my hope, my light and my peace.

Like David and a long procession of other witnesses before me, I have been young and am now old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed out begging for bread.  The Lord God we hope in is more than faithful, more than true, more than good.  His righteousness extends beyond the heavens and His kindness has no end.

How then can I help but believe?

Jim