Overcoming Challenges to Faith

Identify the Challenge

Ruth 1:1 “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.”

For Elimelech and Naomi the challenge was the scarcity of fOvercoming Challenges to Faithood because of a famine.

What challenge exists in your home or in your life right now? In order to overcome the challenges to our faith we have to identify them.

What was Adam and Eve’s Challenge? There was a tree they were commanded not to eat from.

What was Noah’s Challenge? There was a flood coming to destroy the world. God told Noah of this challenge.

What was Abraham’s Challenge? He lived in a place where they worshipped many gods instead of the one true God.

What was Joseph’s Challenge? He was sold into slavery for simply telling the dreams God gave to him.

Elimelech and Naomi identified their challenge. The challenge was not their undoing; their response to the challenge is what messed everything up.

Key Truth:

Challenges do not ruin faith — unbiblical responses to challenges do.

Respond to the Challenge

Ruth 1:1 “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.”

Elimelech’s challenge was met by a response. His response was to leave the land of promise, the house of bread, and go live in Moab. Moab was a place God had commanded his people to stay away from. Their immorality, their worship, and their lifestyles were completely out of sync with the commands of Jehovah. It is not their challenge that caused their problems; it was their faithless response to the challenge.

Adam and Eve: Satan challenged God’s Word and they chose not to trust God’s Word to them.

Noah: Noah obeyed the Lord and built the ark. The challenge was the flood. The answer was trusting what God said.

Abraham: Obeyed the Lord, packed up, and left Ur.

Joseph: Continued to serve the Lord and trust in him.

We could mention many others in the Bible; some had responses of faith to their challenges and some had responses of distrust and disobedience. Once you identify the challenges to your faith how will you respond to the challenge?

Key Truth:

Faith is revealed not by circumstances, but by obedience in the midst of them.

Results of the Response

Ruth 1:2–5 “And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.”

Elimelech: led his family into a place without God to find the provision God had promised in a place that God had prohibited. He died with no other commentary about his life. He died a failure as a believer in Jehovah and as a leader of his home.

Mahlon & Chilion: led by their father to this prohibited place they married women God’s Word also prohibited them to marry. They also died without further commentary. They followed their father to Moab for provision so that they could live and they while they had the food they sought they died anyway.

Naomi: Ruth 1:19–20 “So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” We will talk more about this in coming sermons, but the result of her and her husband’s response to their challenge was bitterness. She was mad at God for what happened when it was not his fault for anything that happened.

Adam and Eve were driven from the perfect garden of Eden. Noah and his family were saved from the flood while everyone else died as a result of their response to their challenge of faith. Abraham was greatly blessed of God because he followed the Lord when he told him to leave Ur. Joseph was given the power of Pharaoh because of his faithfulness and was able to save his father and the brothers that sold him into slavery in the first place. In addition Joseph saved the whole world.

Certainly, if we examined each persons challenge of faith we could tell you the results of their response by whether they chose to trust in the Lord in the midst of the challenge or if they chose to do things their way. When you meet your challenge of faith what will be the results of your response? It will be determined by whether you overcame the challenge before you with faith in God.

Key Truth:

Decisions made during faith-testing seasons often carry long-term consequences.

APPLICATION

So what is the key to overcoming the challenges of faith? I wish there was a recipe that we could put together to withstand challenges. Here is the truth about faith; we have to trust God without definitively knowing the results. When we choose to trust God in the midst of the challenge then we can rest in the arms of the Lord, knowing that while we don’t know the end, we do know that God’s way is always best.

Elimelech didn’t know where his family would get food he did no Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. Elimelech saw Moab as the answer to his challenge when trusting God through the challenge would have been a much better choice. Their challenge wasn’t famine. Their challenge was a lack of faith in the God that had so many times over shown himself strong for his people.

The answer to your challenge may not be the thing, the place, or the decision you think it is. Elimelech though Moab was the answer; it wasn’t. Whatever your challenge you are facing to your faith remember that trusting God is the best answer to any problem you may have. Trusting the world is not the answer. Turning to sin is not the answer. Quitting on God is not the answer. Putting your faith in God is the only answer in times of great challenge.

What will be your response to the challenges of faith?