Believing Even When It Doesn’t Make Sense

And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’S hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” Numbers 11:23

Today’s is a story I’ve told before, but it’s a priceless story about my mother’s faith and so, here goes:

I can clearly remember sitting on my garage floor telling my mother about the disaster I’d created in my addiction. I’d already lost my job and it seemed inevitable that I was going to lose my family and career. In that utter calamity, my mother had the audacity to tell me that she believed God would fix it. I was astonished by her naivety. Mom, you don’t get it. You have no idea how bad this is. My life is over. I wasn’t just being dramatic. Things got even worse for a while after that phone call. Still, she had faith that God would work a miracle, one day turning things around.

I didn’t have that kind of faith, and I couldn’t see it at the time, but she was right. I wanted to believe and I desperately desired to know that everything was going to be OK. I wanted God to promise me that I’d get my family and career back. All I knew though, was that my way was disaster and that I had to follow something very different. So, I set out to daily point myself at God, seeking his will. I’ve not done it perfectly, but every day since, I’ve made a genuine effort to follow God. And, as my mother believed, God transformed my disaster. I got my family back. I got a better job. And I’ve been able to use my life struggles to help others who struggle as I have. As it turned out, mom was right.

Have faith, even when it doesn’t make sense. That’s the message of today’s passage. In it, God promised Moses that he’d provide meat for the Israelites. They were 600,000 people wandering in the wilderness though, and Moses knew this was an impossible promise. Where are you going to get that amount of food God? God responded with a little sarcasm – Is the LORD’S hand shortened? Then, God sent meat, literally tons of it, in the form of quail that fell and died around the camp. The people gathered meat all day, that night, and the next day, harvesting more than they could possibly eat.

For me, faith is keeping my eyes on God, making my feet follow, even when it doesn’t make sense. God has used, and is currently using, impossible scenarios to teach me faith. I look at my situation and I see despair. God asks however, that I simply follow his will, leaving the results up to him. He may not work everything out exactly how I think he should, but if I remain in his will, he gives me the peace that he gave my mother – even when it doesn’t make any sense.