Faith and what the mind can conceive

But Moses said, "Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!' 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"

The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:21-23)

Moses couldn't conceive how God could feed 600,000 men meat. He thought he knew how many cattle and fish there were - not enough. He thought He knew how big God was, but God confounded him.

It is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I think we always conceive wrong because our vision of God is too small. Our faith is too small. This too is my problem. Which is why I love so much these words I read a few weeks ago in an autobiography of Charles Finney, the great revivalist.

In the book "Power, Passion and Prayer", Finney's great faith is described. "But may we attain unto his great Faith? How did that faith come to be so great? Was it conferred outright, as a gift of God, or was it cultivated?"

Says the author: "We answer that his faith fed and grew upon the Word of God. He searched his Bible on his knees and grouped its promises, until unbelief fell, smitten, before the combined blaze of their testimony. It grew again, by the experience of prayer. Experiment is the most convincing argument. God bids the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet;" there "handle me and see!" there "prove me, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing until there be none left to pour out." Faith is confirmed by every new promise that the prayerful soul grasps, and especially by every new experience of prayer answered."

The line "Experiment is the most convicing argument" resonates with me. I can attest to it. I believe giants of faith are built not overnight, but because they dare to ask God. When God answers, they become bolder in their asking. When God answers again, they begin to think to themselves, Our God answers! And they become even bolder in asking...

Prayer today: Father God, too often, my perspective is too earthbound, my vision of you too small, my faith too weak. Yet, you bid the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet, there handle me and see!" Help me to be like the great revivalist Finney, who did just that, and found you to be faithful. In Jesus' name, Amen.