Ever Question the Line of Faith and Stupidity?

Ever question the line of Faith and Stupidity?

I mean, how do you know when you've substituted godly obedience to fruitless actions? Sometimes, I look at the mountain ahead of me and wonder how in the world am I ever gonna scale that?

How about you?

Do endless tasks or countless impossibilities paralyze you from stepping forward? Do yesterday's failures or tomorrow's risks keep you from walking in today's obedience?



Today, as I surveyed the impossibilities surrounding my life and the obstacles trying to obscure my destiny...  a thought filled my mine--(Godly) Action Cures Fear!


In 1 Kings 17:12-16 we see the fight between fear and faith; the passage shares a powerful testimony of a woman who conquered fear through faithful obedience. Check it out...

"As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread — only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it — and die."

Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'"

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. (NIV)


Whew. Think about this woman's quandary. She only has a handful of flour and a little oil. Her plan...fix one final cake and then die. The underlying tone is I'm going to use what I've got to take care of ME and WHATS most precious to ME.

But God interrupts her thoughts with HIS PLAN; He invites her to experience the miraculous. I wonder if she faced the same quandaries and questions of Is this faith or stupidity?

Either way, God uses Elijah to speak the truth and I believe helps to reveal how can we recognize whether we are following God's plan or just acting foolishly. I believe this story helps to reveal the fine line of recognizing the difference between FAITH and STUPIDITY.

Do you see it?

Steps of Stupidity focus on self. They are self-serving. They are plans that begin and end with SELF as the central focus. When we focus on taking care of our needs verses serving others our plans will produce death.

Steps of Faithfulness focus on God's voice and others. They originate with God and end with serving Him and others. Steps of faithfulness require trust in God's provisions. They abandon the notion of self-preservation.

In this story, the woman obeyed God's voice. She did what God said to do. She followed after him even when it didn't line up with human reasoning.

No. I'm not suggesting we practice the absurd and attribute God's name to it...but I am suggesting that obedience to God's voice invites His power and blessing! Faithfully doing the next right thing opens doors of opportunities that would have otherwise remained shut. Obeying and following God's decrees prepares us to receive all that God promises.

In Jeremiah 11:4-5, God commanded the people: 'Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey' — the land you possess today." (NIV)



What is God calling you to do? What steps of obedience is He inviting you to take? Do you question whether you are walking in steps of faith or merely practicing stupidity? Perhaps your answer can be discovered by asking where the steps originate:

• Do you believe God called you to do what you are doing?
• Does it line up with His Word?
• Does it line up with His character?
• Do the steps promote SELF or are they centered in serving others?
• Where do the plans begin and end? With SELF ... OTHERS ... or GOD?

I'd love to hear your thoughts or ways I can pray for you. Take a moment to share them in the comments section below. :)