Faith Building Moments

Over the last week or so, I have had some moments of quietness that I do not relish.  Quietness might sound appealing to some :) however, I am talking about a quietness in my spiritual life where God has felt distant.  I do not like these times, but they come anyway.  Sometimes lasting a couple of weeks and other times a couple of months.  I have not understood why they come and often have been afraid that maybe I have done something to cause Him to withdraw from me.  This did not settle with me this time though, because I know He has promised to never leave me and never forsake me.  I know He has promised me unconditional love.  So, why?  Why do these times come?  I did not get an immediate answer, but God is always faithful and He gave me the answer a couple of days later.

The times when God feels distant and quiet are faith building moments.  It is easy to believe when we feel a strong emotional sense that God is near.  However, when we don't feel Him, well let me at least speak for myself, when I don't feel Him it is easy to begin to question His love and loyalty or whether He even exists at all.  Isn't that what faith is though?  Faith is believeing without seeing or feeling or hearing.  It is a declaration in which I say, I may not see you, feel you, hear you or sense your presence right now, but I KNOW you are here and that you will NEVER leave me.  The Bible says, if we have even just a teeny tiny bit of faith, we can move mountains.  It is not because of us that the mountians move, but because of the power of faith in God.  It is because we believe in the One that can move those mountains even when we sometimes cannot physically feel His presence.

Unwavering faith says, it doesn't matter what I can see, feel, or hear in this physical world.  What matters, is what I know is true in the spiritual and unseen realm.  The love of Christ, who will never leave me and never forsake me.  The physical world, our body, and our senses cannot be trusted. We can't base our faith off of it.  Our faith must be based on what is unseen.

These moments of quietness are not something to be afraid of.  They should be embraced, because in these moments our faith builds and grows in our Heavenly Father.  You know, it just hit me, that having the faith of a mustard seed may not so much be speaking about the amount of faith you have, but possibly more about how strong that faith is.  A mustard seed is very small, but it grows into a huge plant.  You don't hear the mustard seed saying," it is impossible for me to grow that big."  It simply does what it was created to do and it grows and grows and grows.  It is the kind of faith I desire.  A faith not based on what I can see or feel or hear, but a faith deeply rooted in Jesus Christ that nothing and nobody can shake.