Faith is Belief in Action

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.[b] 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,[c] and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord[d] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. Exodus 15:22-27

When we realize that our life in this world is a training ground upon which we have been placed, many things we take for granted become evident. One of those things is faith. By human definition, faith is something which relates to one's belief and confidence. This is half true. Yes, faith is defined by one's beliefs and values. But there is more to it according to God's definition. The faith that we learn when reading the Word is that faith is belief in action.

This scripture, for example, makes action the primary ingredient in solving a clean water issue for the Israelites. The people believed in God for all that He just did to deliver them from the Egyptians. Personally, if I saw everything that God just demonstrated; the plagues, parting of the Red Sea, destruction of my enemies, my belief would be at a level 10! But this belief was not evident in their actions. I guess to God it sounded like "grumbling".

Isn't that true? When there is a problem that needs to be solved and nothing is done to find a solution, it is simply grumbling. "Monku, monku..." my grandma used to say. Where is the faith in that?

So what did Moses do to solve the problem? He tossed a log into the water. I'm sure a reader of this story would suspect that it must be some special log. The reality however is that the log was not special. It was just a log. What made this instance special is that God rewarded the obedience of Moses, when Moses took action. Moses was called the humblest man on the face of the earth in his day. I think this humility was demonstrated in the fact that Moses took action based on His belief in God.

What are ways you can take your faith into the realm of action?

Rely upon your initial encounter with God. God will usually intervene in your life so that you can build a relationship with Him. This might be through a personal experience or a relationship with other believers. It may be gradual or sudden. In all situations, He is going to provide you with just enough so that you can develop a level of faith that will allow you to trust Him. From there, you can make the decisions as to whether or not you want to follow Him. Rely upon that initial experience with Him and keep walking. He will give you what you need along the way.

Be willing to consider alternative scenarios. It may be the case that your path with God will be completely different from the one that your neighbor takes. No two paths will look alike. This is why trusting Him is so important. You can not follow into another person's footsteps because they are not the steps God wants you to take. He wants to you follow in His footsteps, and that may be a path uniquely cut out for you.

Be humble, no grumble. This is a popular local Hawaiian saying which sums up the 40 years in the desert for the Israelites. Humility was required for Moses to hear and follow God. It was also required for the Israelites to make it to the promised land. Following God usually means that we have to lay down our plans in order to follow His. We might grumble along the way, but when it comes to taking that next step, we must be willing to humble ourselves to His instructions.

Father,

I know that you always have the best plans for us. It is difficult to see them when we are distracted or are in distress. But in those times we just have to take action in our faith to follow you. May I always have the humility to lay down my plans to follow yours.