On Spring break, during my Monday morning worship, I came across something really amazing in a book I am reading called “God in Pain” by David Asscherick.
It was quiet, and my sister and my grandpa and I were sitting in my grandparents’ living room, and this concept just jumped out at me and totally changed how I think about faith and hope.
But before I attempt to explain it, I want to review the concept of faith itself. The definition of faith, as stated in Hebrews 11:1, is, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJV). This means that it isn’t something that can be perceived with the five senses.
2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (NKJV). It’s much more complex and abstract. We can know that our salvation depends on faith. Verses like Galatians 2:16 and Hebrews 11:6 confirm that.
OK, so back to “God in Pain.” Asscherick starts this chapter by describing how the Israelites must have felt right before the way through the Red Sea was opened by God. God had led them, but that knowledge didn’t seem to change the fact that they were completely trapped and afraid. Then, their deliverance came. No one was harmed, everyone was saved.
And the next morning, after trudging through blueish-gray walls filled with fish and other sea creatures, they had a concert on the beach, complete with tambourines and dancing. They were thankful to God for their deliverance. Completely natural. But then Asscherick says something a little weird. “Too bad they had so miserably missed the opportunity to sing before the deliverance!”
What? They were terrified before, exactly as I would have been! I wouldn’t have wanted to sing. If I really think about it, I probably would have been just as panicked and confrontational as the worst of the Israelites!
Then Asscherick starts telling another story, this time from 2 Chronicles 20. Jehoshaphat, the king at the time, hears the news that a huge multitude of soldiers, made up of three armies, is coming to make war with Judah. After a lengthy, pleading prayer and a prophet’s assurance that the Lord would be with them, the army of Judah and Jerusalem marched to battle. When they arrived at the mountain overlooking the valley where the enemies were, they saw that their enemies were no longer alive. The three armies had attacked each other, with a little help from some angels, and literally every single one of them was dead. The deliverance was incredible, just like it had been at the Red Sea.
I left one important detail out of that story, though. The army of Judah also sang to God, thanking Him for His salvation, only they didn’t do it after. They sang before. Jehoshaphat put the choir out in front, leading the army to its deliverance.
Asscherick completes his point with these two paragraphs:
“What takes more faith, more trust: to sing of God’s deliverance from affliction and trial before or after it has taken place? Romans 8:24 says that ‘hope that is seen is not hope.’ In fact, it took exactly no faith for the Israelites to sing while looking down at the watery corpses of Pharaoh’s formerly feared soldiers.
“Mark that: it takes no faith to sing of deliverance past.”
Wow. How amazing is that? Looking back over what God has done for us is fine, good even, but it won’t grow our faith or give us hope. The real faith and hope that will burn brighter and brighter, drawing others to us, asking why we go through life as if we’re expecting the biggest most amazing surprise ever, is what comes from thanking God for what He will do, not what He’s already done.
This is not a totally new concept, but the way it was presented and stated was really compelling and made me grateful for God’s leading in my past and in my future. I’m trying to thank Him more for His future leading. I hope you will, too.
