Lesson 2 March 14, 2004
Learning to live by faith is largely a matter of:
(a) knowing God (cf. Ps.
(b) staying focused on Him (Heb. 12:1-2),
(c) recognizing, acknowledging,
and turning from those human viewpoint solutions by which we seek to live, our
self-protective methods, which are really the ways of unbelief and are futile
to meet our needs (Jer.
2:12-13; 17:5-7; Isa. 50:10-11).
These Old Testament examples stand as timeless warnings. They illustrate just how quickly we can fail
to relate and focus our lives on the Lord and what He is to us and intends to
do in, through, and for us (1 Cor. 10:1f; Heb. 3:7f;
Rom 15:4).
A few examples of the analogies that many students of the word
have observed:
Coming out of
It speaks of redemption through
the saving work of Christ.
2.
(a) The believer functioning under the rulership
of the sin nature, they are redeemed and blessed with marvelous privileges, yet
failing to go on in his life with a vibrant living relationship with God.
(b) Or it may portray the variegated trials God
uses as tools of growth as explained in
Deut. 8:1-7; James 1:2-4; Pet 1:6-7.
3. Crossing the
The Canaanites in the land are
certainly analogous to our enemies
who stand ready to oppose us in the Christian way of life.
What a note of irony! The inhabitants were looking at
The Israelites, who had seen the
mighty works of God over and over again, were looking at their problems rather
than at God and, as a result, were terrorized into paralyzing unbelief (cf.
Num. 14:1-4 and Deut. 1:26‑32).
Getting our eyes off the problem and on the Lord I will
refer to as refocusing or being occupied
with Christ.
Refocusing involves basically four steps:
(a) confession of sin - dealing with sinful responses God's way,
(b) counting it all joy,
(c) casting the problem on the Lord, and
(d) concentrating on five key elements about God;
His person,
purposes, principles, promises, and plan.
The consequences of a wrong focus can be seen in what happened to
(a) they became a defeated people in that they failed to possess their possessions;
(b) they were a disciplined and destroyed people in that were judged and they died
in the wilderness;
(c) they became a disgraced people and brought dishonor
to God; and
(d) they became a debilitated people—they lost God’s power and capacity to fulfill
His purpose.
Wrong patterns of living develop from wrong beliefs or philosophies about life, about God, others, and
self.
A key issue is just how extensively are we allowing the Word to direct our path or shine its light on each aspect of our lives so that God’s truth, which sets us free, can change our belief structures and the foundation of trust.
We can’t
apply what we do not know, but just knowing truth is not enough.
We may
know the principles (have knowledge or the wisdom of God’s perspective on
various subjects), but
fail to apply them as it is appropriate and when necessary.
Focus is crucial to three
things:
(a) to correcting our beliefs and sources of trust; [Renewing
our N&S]
(b) to building and maintaining faith, [believing, trusting our
F/OR of truth.
(c) to what we become in our character, attitudes and actions.