8 August 2022

In our last Sunday worship, one song sung has this refrain – ‘we walk by faith and not by sight’.
In the Scripture, we are reminded often that we, as believers, should live by faith and not by sight.
To my mind, ‘sight’ refers to our senses – our seeing, our hearing, our touch, our feelings, even our thinking (not sanctified thinking). As humans, we tend to live by sight – we are affected by what we detect in our senses – in this light, we do not see the total reality which includes what is not seen, what is in the spiritual realm, how God the almighty sees it, and by seeing, we need to realise that it includes our feelings, understanding and our perspectives from the human point of view.

As believers, we need to realise that, if we walk and live by sight, we may, in all likelihood, miss God’s point of view, His sovereignty, and the outworking of His will.

We think of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians in the history of Judah, the southern kingdom. The Jews at that time thought that as God dwells in Jerusalem at His temple, surely, Jerusalem will not fall and the temple would remain intact. But Jeremiah the prophet kept telling them that Jerusalem would fall and God would leave His temple because of the sins of God’s people.
Even Habakkuk was dismayed and ‘puzzled’ as to why God the Holy One would use cruel Babylonians to destroy His people, His place and temple. And the Babylonians were known to be cruel conquerors, killing and raping women, piercing babies who were thrown up with their lances, and destroying everything in their path. But Habakkuk finally concluded with words of faith, trust, and confidence in the Lord.

Jeremiah himself was accused of treason, thrown into prison, and nearly died at the hands of his own people. But if the people were walking by faith, instead of by sight, they would have recognised that he was a godly prophet and his words were the words of God.

Let us be careful to realise that our interpretation of ‘calamities’, illnesses and distress affecting nations and even our own lives may not be correct from God’s point of view. The Scripture, and in particular the book of Revelation, has revealed that such occurrences would take place and God is allowing them. The calamities may be a ‘wake-up’ call to non-believers to repent before it is too late; they may be a warning to believers to be prepared to overcome for God, even in the face of sufferings and death, by being faithful in words and deeds. If we walk by faith, we can discern the will and purpose of God. But if we walk by sight, we may be overwhelmed with many ‘questions’, doubts and queries as to why God allows such events and is God in control?

“I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Paul’s response to God, in the midst of his sufferings and pain, is one for us to emulate. We need to trust in God, in His unchanging character, goodness, grace, and lovel. If God gave Himself for us in His Son at Calvary, can we ever doubt His love; can we ever allow ourselves to live by sight and not by faith?