Jesus is the land that God has shown me.

What does it mean, “the just shall live by faith”?

Is faith a value?
Is faith a principle?
Is faith a motivational factor?
Is faith an assurance?

How can you walk up a cross, and stay there for an unthinkable amount of time, knowing that this is not just a bad dream?

How can you drag an entire nation behind you into a desert?

How can you tell them to go forward as the water before them is unimaginably split into walls while they walk on dry land between those very walls?

Each and every day I wake up and I find myself reminded of all the possibilities.

The greatest pain that Job had ever suffered was not in anyone he had lost to death. His greatest pain was found in the fact that he never thought in his lifetime that what just took place before him would have ever taken place.

Jesus walked around and enjoyed the company of many knowing that one day all would desert him.

For me, life is not what I can contain. Life is more than I can contain. Life is more than I can imagine.

There was a time to watch cartoons, and there was a time to watch daily developments to get a glimpse into the challenges and griefs of the world.

Have you ever heard someone says, “I don’t want to think about it.”

I’m sure Job had a burial plan for each of his family members. He must have felt some sense of security that should be his because of his goodness to others, and his devotion to God.

Do you feel secured because you’re good to others and that you’re very devoted to God by the means of some sacrifices? I used to be there. And some days I hope I was still in that mindset because it seems so comforting to believe how my life will go from beginning to end. It can feel very soothing to maintain that God is in control.

But the many times that I’ve said that God is in control, what I actually meant to say is that God is in control to do the things that I want him to do and the way I want him to do them. Regardless of how beautiful that sounds, it’s so far from the truth.

The just shall live by faith. Here’s what I understand by this statement. Remember when God told Abraham to leave his father’s household to go to another land? There is an aspect of that statement that has always hooked my mind since the first time I heard it. Here’s the verse I’m referring to:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

What do you read as the last critical part of that command? “the land I will show you.”

Since the day Jesus filled me with the Holy Spirit, He made me understood that “faith” is “God’s revealing Himself to me.”

Faith is not just some conclusion I have adapted to. It’s not some agreement that my colleagues and I have come up with to abide by.

Faith is the work of God in the believers’ hearts.

Christ said it best to Peter, “for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

In my line of work, I’m always drawn to fix things. I’m always drawn to research for solutions, seek others opinions, and do things myself. “God? Nah, I can do this by myself”, I often say.

I almost feel like I should be able to do everything by myself. Then when I run into roadblocks, I got upset with myself. I got more upset with others when they can’t do things as I expected them to.

But, “the just shall live by faith.”

The just shall not live by either his might or the might of others, his comprehension or the comprehension of others. The just shall be able to breathe because God reveals Himself to Him.

“The just shall live by faith” is a revolutionary statement made by God to Habbakuk. When God made that statement, Habbakuk was pretty much baffled at the way God works. And even God said it Himself,

“For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5)

The things that God has done and is doing and will do are things that we would not believe even if we were told.

Scripture isn’t a book that we can simply read and comprehend the full intent of what is written. It takes Jesus to open the minds and hearts of the disciples for them to understand why He had to die and be resurrected.

For as much as I would like to feel independent, having very little to do with another as far as my decision-making process goes, that’s not what God intends for me.

“He” will show me the land. Jesus is my land. Had God not introduced me to Jesus, everyone else would have been my Jesus. Had God not shown his mercy and love toward me to open my eyes on Jesus, I would have been more hopeful of myself and others rather than God.

The just is to breathe by faith. That never stops being true.

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.(Luke 24:45)