Walk By Faith Not By Sight

Thankfully, I had a trip in Israel couple of years ago with my wife. One of our friends who lives in Israel and serve God and God’s people as a missionary invited us to go on a pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

One of my highlights in the trip was visiting a couple of different deserts in Israel where the God’s people encountered God’s presence and miracles.

Wehn I visited the places, my friend told me that when David fled from Saul and ended up in the wilderness, he described the place as God’s santuary.

Psalm 63:1–2 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

I felt strange with the verses as I saw nothing in the desert. How come David see the dry land as God’s temple? Because he doesn’t see the things around by his sight rather he opens his faithful eyes in the midst of his journey with God.

Whereas when we look at the passage we read today was in disaster in the desert.

Because the Israelites again complain about the lack of food and water, over the several time (e.g., Exod 15:22–17:7; Num 11; 14; 20:1–13).

Because they didn’t put their heart with the way in which they recognise God’s presence.

So this time, God punishes the people with venomous snakes. After Moses prays for the punishment to cease, God instructs him to make a bronze snake, promising to heal all those who look at it.

This is foretell of God’s grace in John 3:14 draws an analogy between Moses lifting this bronze serpent and the metaphorical lifting up of the Son of Man.

This is amazing connection between the Old and New testament. Because God manifested and predicted how we could be saved which is saved by the cross if we put our faith into the Christ’s salvation.

When you think of the image of the cross, do you feel just as one of symbols of the Christianity or value of your faith journey?

We all need to be deeply looking at the cross who gives us freedom from our hardship in our faith journey.

We need to fix our eyes and thought upon the Cross as people who looked at the symbol of God’s grace in the wilderness.

I believe we are all in the same journey which we are spiritually in wilderness towards entering into God’s promise land.

What God wants us to do is walk humbly with God by faith in Christ not just walk by sight.

Have you ever watched Survivor? you know, the TV show where a group of people are left on a deserted island with no food or water. They have to try and work out how to survive all on their own with nothing except the clothes on their backs…and of course a film crew made up of a TV host, producer, doctor and a hundred other assistants.

When I watched the show, I was amazed by watching people who competitors in the show, they enormously was bearing pains and suffers in order to win and b a last survivor of the competition.

I noticed that most of calm and strong faith person in the group won in the competition.

In the same way, I reflected the image of the bearing the suffering we have in our faith journey until we enter into the God’s promise land which is God’s kingdom. But God gives us provision to bear the hardship with endless love and guide.

When we watch and hear from news, we see there is no perfect peace in the world.

No matter what we are facing and seeing harship and temptation around in our lives we just need to keep walking with the faith in Christ in the midst of our faith journey in the wilderness.

As we look at the passage from John 3:16 which is significant and core-value for our Christian belief.

We need to look closely on the verse 14 as well.

John 3:14 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Often I encountered a variety of situations in my pastoral events in Wesley Mission, I realised that I need to look upon the cross and Christ’s steadfast love in the midst of the issues with pains and suffering particularly for the people in need.

For those whom I met in Wesley Mission needed extra care as they have been extraordinary journey in hardship with lack of resorces in their life in the past and now. And I see my limits and ended up couldn’t help anything for them physically. Rather, I offered a prayer for them in their midst of complex and confused situations and ask God to help them.

Having said that even if we know that God surrounds us and helps us to overcome our hardship, we need to support people with intecessor with prayers like what Moses did in the passage who interceded for God’s people in suffering.

Because our mandate is to love and mnifest God’s love and grace for the people in need as we are called to be a disciple of Christ.

But we also need to be aware that there is always temptation in our faith journey that makes us stumble and out of track in the journey.

But as we see how Israelite overcomed their hardship through looking at the God’s grace with the symbol of the cross we also need to fix our eyes upon the cross which gives us from death to eternal life.

Apostl Paul encourages us that

English Standard Version Chapter 2

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

I encourage you to look upon the cross if you are in the midst of the suffering or hardship in your life.

I encounted so many times with experiencing the power of the Cross when I get stumbled by my sinful nature in the middle of my hardship with temptations.

Thus, we walk by faith not by sight

If we only walk with God by our sight, we wouldn’t be able to see God’s grace and we may stuck in the hardship.

Looking at the Cross is the way in which we started putting our faith in Christ first but as we jouney in the wilderness we often forget aobut it and treat the cross as one of the merely symbols of Christianity.

So I encrouage you to remember the words cross as I make acronym

Acrostic pattern with the word Cross!

C - Compassionate Heart!

R - Relief from hardship!

O - Only through Christ!

S - Sacrificial Love!

S - Satisfaction in Christ!

Put our faith into Cross and walk by faith not by sight!

Let us pray:

Havenly Father God, thanks for your words and its message that you revealed us today. As we are in the midst of journey in the wilderness into the promise land please help us to remain in your presence and enable us to look upon the cross which gives us faith to walk humbly with you in all circumstances.