THE STARS TEACH A LESSON OF FAITH

Our granddaughter is staying the week with us. One thing I have found out about my little granddaughter is she is very a visual learner and she takes everything literal.

Both of us love to look at the sky outside at night. My granddaughter will sit and have a conversation with me about the moon and the stars.

When I point to the stars and tell her God made them she agrees. Later while we are still looking at the stars I will ask, "Who made the stars?" She will answer, "God did!"

The next day I will try to reiterate the things we had talked about the night before. Here is how our conversation goes.

"Who made the stars?" She looks at me puzzled and says, "We don't have any."

I explain to her they are there but we can only see them at night. I tell her, "God made the stars!"

Again I say, "Can you tell me who made the stars?" She looks at me seriously and says, "MeeMee, we don't have any!"

I have found if I want to discuss the stars and the moon it must be done when it's dark and they are visible for her to observe.

There are many adults who think this same way. There are people serving the Lord with their whole heart and involved in ministry. If you ask them they will tell you they know God is real. They will express how the Lord brought them through many trials.

Later you see that same person and ask them about the Lord and they are much like my granddaughter. Instead of saying, "We don't have any" they might say, "He doesn't exist." Just because they can't see him moving or visible in their lives they feel the Lord doesn't even exist.

He might not be shining brightly at that moment in their lives but it doesn't remove the fact that he exists.

If I try to explain to my granddaughter the stars are in the sky but we can't see them because of the sunshine, she isn't going to understand since she is only three. Somewhere down the line she will have to learn to just trust us that the stars are there and they are shining even when we can't see them.

Faith is something all mankind struggles with. It doesn't matter if we are two years old or eighty years old there are things we face, that cause our faith to waver. There comes a time when people, even people who have been in the ministry for twenty years, even their faith wavers

There is a story in the bible about a man who had a son that inflicted pain on his own body; there were times the child would throw himself into the water or fire. This had been happening since the child was small. When the father came to Jesus he wanted to believe Jesus could heal him.

Jesus was walking on the earth and could be seen visibly but this father was still having trouble believing. What he did next is what we need to do.

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. (Mark 9:23-24)

The Lord will help us, but at times we need to admit to him, we are struggling in our faith. There are other things that will help us also. If my granddaughter does not continue to read and hear about the stars being in the sky during the daytime she would continue to struggle with this fact.

We don't just give up on teaching her this truth. We tell her, books she will read will teach it, and she will hear this truth by people on television or in school. We will teach her in different ways and eventually she will come to the understanding the stars are in fact in the sky during the daytime, even if she can't see them.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Just as children need to read and hear about the things she can't see and understand, mankind needs to do the same. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. This tells me, if we are lacking faith we need to spend more time in the bible, listening to people teach it, absorbing it anyway you can. We need to ask the Lord to help us believe just as the man who had a son that was out of control.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)