The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith

Faith Looks Up

One of my favorite hymns as a child was “My Faith Looks up to Thee” by Lowell Mason. The third verse says

While Life’s dark maze I tread and grief around me spread, be thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away, nor let me ever stray from thee aside.

As a child I did not truly understand sorrow and grief. Yes there were those I knew who had died and whose families experienced great sorrow as a result, but it did not touch me. As an adult, I see many of my peers being bowled under by sorrow, never regaining a foothold on hope after “life’s dark maze” takes a shot at them. There are even Christians among my acquaintances whose every conversation is about their sad lot in life.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” It is faith to recognize that our circumstances are not haphazard coincidences.  God is sovereign and what He allows to happen in the life of the Christian is part of His bigger plan. His will, in the big picture, is that we participate in sharing the good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. To do that, faith is required.

Another part of God’s bigger plan is the individual growth of each of His children. Spiritual maturity develops only in the crucible of life events that necessitate and realize the upward look of faith in God. The outcome is triumphant living no matter what the circumstances are in which we live. This is part of the reward for diligently seeking Him. The continuous recognition of God’s presence with us is how faith manifests itself inwardly. From that recognition comes the peace, hope, and joy that characterize the victorious Christian life in each of us.

Even as a child I knew I was a sinner and I understood the final phrase of the song which requests that God not let me stray from him. It is an even more important concept for me now. Many of my peers have become burdened in faithless despair because of the often painful evidence of advancing age. My prayer is, in the spirit of that final phrase, “Lord, let me finish well and faithfully serve you until my dying breath.”

 

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