I never dreamed how many topics could come out of one little Bible passage, but this week’s verses certainly have a lot of them! I wasn’t sure which to write about, for there were too many good possibilities here!
But I’m going to try to be as practical as possible. (If you want some of the deeper topics, just dig in. There’s a lot of treasure in these verses, if you’ll mine for it.)
As a review, though, we have already learned that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is living my life in light of things that haven’t happened, that are in the future, and that I can’t see.
Today we read,
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’So we say with confidence,
‘YHVH is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Faith doesn’t look at material possessions; rather, faith looks at our Spiritual Provider.
God’s Provision
We are told to keep our lives free from the love of money. In Matthew 6, Yeshua tells us that we can love money (the Hebrew word is “mammon”), or we can love God—but we can’t love both. We can either depend on earthly treasures to supply our needs, or we can depend on God to supply—but we can’t trust both.
We often forget that when we store up our treasures here on earth, our treasures can very quickly be lost. Moth and rust can destroy. Thieves can break in and steal.
Our pursuit of money, and the security that we think it will bring, becomes idol worship.
“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).
Faith sees what can’t be seen, which is God’s faithful provision for all our needs. He feeds us. He clothes us.
“I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).
So let’s get practical for a moment. When we worry, we are worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator. We may say that we recognize God is our provider, but to prove that, we have to stop worrying.
“Unless YHVH builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless YHVH watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves” (Psalm 127:1-2).
God’s Presence
God provides for our needs, but He goes even further and provides us with His very presence. The author of Hebrews quotes from the Hebrew Tanakh, the Old Testament, here with God’s statement that “never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for YHVH your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
“YHVH himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
“No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).
“May YHVH our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us” (1 Kings 8:57).
This is truly an amazing promise! When God gave this promise to Joshua and the children of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land, they believed Him—long enough to conquer the city of Jericho. Oh, except for Achan, who forgot that God would never leave or forsake him… and so he stole some gold from the city… even though God had told them not to… but he forgot God was with Him and was worried he wouldn’t have enough provisions… so he didn’t obey… he took what didn’t belong to him… then he was surprised when he was caught… and because of his idolatry, he and his family died.
Hmmm. Do I ever forget that God will never leave or forsake me?
I’m quite happy He’s with me… when I’m having a problem, or I want a quick answer to prayer, or I want to get all emotionally wrapped up in my religious experiences.
It’s not as convenient to have an ever-present God when I don’t feel like obeying Him.
“Praise be to YHVH, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May YHVH our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before YHVH, be near to YHVH our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that YHVH is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to YHVH our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time” (1 Kings 8:56-61).
So which shows more faith? Prayer and religious experiences… or obedience to my Heavenly Father’s commands?
God’s Power
The hardest part for me is remembering God’s power. I start looking around at the power of man, and then I start to be afraid. I start to think of all the things that people could do to me, might say about me, might think of me. In the first few decades of my life, it was rare indeed that I could “say with confidence, ‘YHVH is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?‘” (Hebrews 13:6).
(Well, I might have said it—but probably not with too much confidence!)
These verses are a quotation from Psalm 118, where the Psalmist wisely tells us,
“It is better to take refuge in YHVH
than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8).
Faith sees what can’t be seen. Faith sees YHVH’s unseen power, His presence, and His provision, and faith takes refuge in Him.
I mean, really, what can man do to me?
I suppose my husband could lose his job… but Who has promised to always feed and clothe me?
I suppose I could get sick, but Who gives me breath so that I can praise Him?
I suppose someone could persecute me because of my faith, but Who has promised to give me life at the last day?
I mean really, what can man do to me?
If you’re ever tempted to skip reading the Bible verses on blog posts, don’t skip these. They’re good enough to believe!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who is he that condemns? Messiah Yeshua, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
‘For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Master” (Romans 8:28-39).
Those are shouting words! HalleluYah!
If we’ll just have faith to see what we can’t see….
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Karen says
AMEN!!
Ann says
Yes, and for those of us experiencing hardship because of the economy, the “what can man do to me” is the creditor and collection agency. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man”. Lord help us to trust You for help and discernment in working through this maze. And for the anxiety this creates, “The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid…”
Larry H. (cakeblast) says
Great post! I love all your posts on faith, parenting, and homeschooling. I am passing on a SunShine Award to you! You can claim it over on my site! http://cakeblast.com/awards/the-sunshine-award/
loretta Haley says
Fearless love never comes without facing fearful situations. Courage grows from facing your fears and watching how God will conquor them. Look back over your life, God has a perfect track record; encourage yourself with all He’s done for you in the past and all He’s yet to do in the future. God is not constrained by the economy, the president, the ACLU, etc… When I hear people all upset about what our president is doing I remember that “man makes his plans, and GOD LAUGHS!”
Anonymous says
This is a very nice blog.
But i would like to leave you with one thing if i may,
I remember reading…
“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).
and i believe it completely except for one thing… if Jesus was created by God, and if people worship Jesus– isn’t that worshiping “created things rather than the Creator”. Shouldn’t we then worship only God, and believe that Jesus (pbuh) is only a messenger?
another thing to look at…
“The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed on before him. And his mother was a supporter of truth. They both used to eat food. Look how We make clear to them the signs; then look how they are deluded.” Qu’ran 5:75
would you agree that Jesus (pbuh) was a human? if so didn’t he need to eat drink and go to the bathroom? — didn’t he need sustenance? … whereas we know that GOD is well beyond such humane characteristics.
thanks,
anonymous
Anne Elliott says
Thank you for your comment! John 1:1-3 tells us that Jesus was in the beginning with God the Father, and that all things were made by Him. (In other words, Jesus IS the Creator.)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:1-3)
Yet, later in that same chapter, it says that Jesus took on flesh and came and lived among all of us…
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14-15).
In Philippians, we read why He came:
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV).
I hope this helps! Again, I’m so glad for your comment!
Hugs,
~Anne
Jed Lindstrom says
I was doing a random picture search on “Gods Power” and the picture brought me to this blog. 🙂 What an awesome God lead. 🙂 May God richly bless you and your family. 🙂
Dufie Asamoah says
Thanks a lot Anne. The Lord has revived my soul this morning through your word. This is the first time I have come across such a wonderful blog. Please do well to notify me when you have a new post. May the God almighty bless you.