Raw faith

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him

Job 13:15

We walk by faith and not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7

There's nothing pretty about trusting God in desperate times.

The kind of faith that clings on when all the evidence for faith is negative is red raw, like an open wound.

Yesterday I read the plea for prayer from a group of Christians sheltering inside a church in Mariupol, Ukraine.

There the destruction and deprivation is almost beyond description.

They tried to escape, but their car broke down!

Yet they continue to trust God.

The great chapter on faith in Hebrews 11 describes how many great Bible characters overcame and won great victories through trusting God.

Yet there is a lesser known portion at the end of the chapter, which tells of those who lost their battles and were martyred - maybe it takes a greater faith to be on the losing side:

36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goat skins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised

Those dear Christians in Mauripol, Ukraine have been stripped of all the trappings of cosy belief - they are scared for their lives, surrounded, without defence and reduced to the bare minimum of existence.

Yet they are still holding onto Jesus in raw faith.

The least we can do is join our own weak faith to theirs and continue to plead in their behalf. Who knows that it could be us facing the same issues as the world turns upside down?

This all points to the fact that this life is full of hardships and battles - it's not our final destination - Heaven is our nation and we are citizens there.

Losing our homes here is unimaginably dreadful, but losing our eternal home is far worse.

Hebrews 10:35

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

Father help me to pray through until deliverance comes and never ever throw away my faith in You and Your Kingdom, through Jesus. I carry those suffering so much, to Your Throne and ask for mercy, miracles and divine help. Amen.