Irrational Faith

Logic. According to the dictionary, Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity or a system or set of principles underlying the arrangements of elements in a computer or electronic device so as to perform a specified task.

Logic is needed. Something used to determine one's next steps, or to deduce a solution to a problem. There is logic in science, math, in the business and in ones own home. It is safe to say that we would be lost without it. Scripture is full of logic.... and yet Scripture is also full of Irrational Faith. Don't get me wrong. Logic is good and needed. However, if we only lived by that which we can comprehend we wouldn't be living. I know I sound like a silly school girl running on and on about feelings, emotions, heart.... actually this is nothing of the sort. It is something a little different. As I have walked with God over these past 18 years, I have noticed that somethings He does just isn't logical....not to my finite mind anyways. If we only view the world through the eyes of logic we miss the wonder. Let me just put it this way.... 

If we were all so logical, Peter would have never stepped out of the boat.

"During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." -Matthew 14:25-28

I don't care who you are, walking on water just isn't logical. It's not reasonable. It's not normal. It doesn't follow any scientific rules. Yet, He did it! Our God created logic. Don't put Him in a box. Wonder at his marvelous works! Stand in awe of his mighty power! And step out of that boat! There are many times in ministry that things aren't logical. However, when God is working, you step out of the boat. Because where God is at work, that is where you want to be. And sometimes it just isn't logical. It wasn't logical for me to leave a good paying job, where I ministered to my coworkers, was moving up the preverbal ladder and enjoyed it! But guess what? It doesn't matter cause when God says "come" you GO!

Sure, to us seasoned followers of Christ it makes more sense. But logical? No, it can't be logical. Why? Because we can't reason it all out. We, in our finite minds can't understand or hash out all the reasoning of an infinite God.

"Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see." -Martin Luther

Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Peter, Paul...each had irrational faith. Faith in something they couldn't fully comprehend or see but yet they believed because they knew the one who promised is faithful. Hebrews 11, the hall of faith, tells us of many of these men's journey of faith. "By FAITH Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.... By FAITH Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went...By FAITH Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice....By FAITH Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born....By FAITH Moses...chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin....By FAITH the people passed through the Red Sea on dry land....By FAITH the walls of Jericho fell...." 

As I pointed out in my last post, our God is reason, and truth. I am by no means negating the necessity of logic. However, our God is so much more. Just like He is perfectly just and perfectly merciful all at the same time, He is also created order and logic as well as irrational faith, generosity, and love. It doesn't always make sense in this world but I don't care. Because in those moments I again stand in AWE of my amazing Savior. Wonder at His marvelous work. There is a time to study and discover Him and then there is a time to sit in awe and wonder at His feet or to jump out of the boat and walk on water. I guarantee you Peter didn't take the time to calculate the probability of him staying afloat. No, he jumped in. He ran to his Lord. Why? Because his Lord had beckoned him.

"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on water and came toward Jesus.