What if the only thing standing between faith and anxiety is our willingness to see things differently? The Bible is filled with things that appear to be dichotomies to us, light in darkness, death from life, calm in chaos. We tend to believe that one of those things needs to be removed so that the other can come, an that one is against us while the other is for us, one is an attack of the enemy while the other is the work of God. And yet, the book of Revelation has screamed to us, over and over again, “God is sovereign!” So there are no dichotomies. Yes, we do have an enemy, we must wage war against our flesh and the kingdom of this world is raging against the King and His Kingdom, but even then, they have no power to thwart what God has planned. The question is, are we willing to see light when surrounded by darkness, to trust life even when faced with death, to speak and believe in calm when our plans seem to be turned to chaos? We don’t need God to come and change some things, we need to see God in the midst of all things. II Corinthians 5:7 says “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
As we study Revelation 11:11-19 this week we will be forced to examine our lives and ask honestly if we are living from what we see, what we want, what we feel, what we expect or what God has spoken and who God has proved to be? It is not as hard to take a step of faith as it is to live our lives in faith? One is a grand action, the other is a deliberate and consistent state of being and condition of heart. The question is really not if we are able to walk by faith but if we are willing to stop walking by sight. God’s will is being done and His kingdom is coming, the issue at hand is if we are willing to see, believe and be a part of what He is doing? It doesn’t happen by effort, but once again, it’s all by surrender, not by changing but by being changed.