Reasoned Faith

“That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.” (Pr 22:19 AV)

In the light of this statement being made in the book of Proverbs, it takes on a unique understanding.  This statement by a father to his child is not mere faith alone.  Rather, it is faith founded upon wisdom.  The book of Proverbs are pithy sayings revealing the nature and application of wisdom.  This wisdom is, in a nut shell, how things work and don’t work.  Solomon takes great pains is sharing with his child what he should do or how he should act with the consequences of failure spelled out.  The writer gives advice on what his child should do and how he should live with the blessings described as a result.  Then he makes the statement above.  The question arises, if wisdom is nothing more than common sense advice based on the nature of God’s creation and absolutes, what need is there of trust and faith?  Giving as example: if hard work results in material gain and laziness results in poverty, where is faith involved?

I know that I have used this illustration before, but it still works.  My father showed wisdom in requiring all his children to learn how to swim.  He didn’t know how to teach us, so, he sent us to a program offered by the Red Cross.  It was held on Saturday mornings at the public High School pool.  I still remember my first day.  This is almost fifty years ago.  But I still remember it.  After getting changed into our swim trunks, the instructor had us stand against the wall as measure our height.  We had to be over three feet tall.  Then, he had is stand on the edge of the pool and read the depth of the water.  Two feet, six inches.  Proving that all we had to do was step on the floor of the pool, we couldn’t drown.  Then he showed us the rescue pole which he would use if we got into trouble.  The problem was, when one looked into the water, knowing the water distorted the true depth, our observation and fear overwhelmed our logic.  Even though it was distorted.  Ultimately, we had to trust the instructor, ignoring what our flesh and mind was telling us.

Our wicked nature distorts truth.  It cannot see it.  Our wicked nature believed lies.  It pursues what it desires regardless of the outcome.  Our egos misunderstand the absolute nature of God’s design and falsely thinks the mere ability of self-determination also means truth is relative.  Our pride refuses to see what is plainly in front of our eyes.  We ignore the obvious results of our choices or those of another thinking these results are new and not repeatable.  It does take faith to ignore our nature and trust the truth of God’s word.  The evidence is overwhelming.  No matter how much we ignore the LORD’s hand and plan, truth is still truth.  Trust means we take God at His word and apply it regardless of what our flesh or mind is telling us.  We need trust because the old man is using a lifetime of experiences to battle the truth revealed to us in His word.  We need trust based on the logic of cause and effect as revealed in the book of Proverbs so that our faith stands firm on the nature of God’s truth:  irrefutable.  This is what the book of Proverbs was written.  That trust would grow in the wisdom of God’s book and not in the feelings or desires of the heart.