Joe Torosian
Senior Pastor
Burbank Faith Nazarene

By Joe Torosian

“When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you…When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army…He shall say: ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them…For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’”—Deuteronomy 20:1-4

Too often we stop when we see we are outnumbered and, visibly, overmatched in a given situation. We see all we are facing, all we’re going to have to do, and for what? When nothing gives even the smallest hint of a guarantee.

How often have we been guilty of having this frame of mind?

“I don’t know what God is doing here?”

“I don’t understand God’s plan with this?”

“I can’t figure God out on this one?”

…And we often have the same frame of mind when we see something extreme happening to someone care about.

A small difference between us and someone else in crisis, is when we are going through a “What is God doing?” stretch we stick around long enough to see the revealing and acquire some understanding of what the Lord was doing all along.

Like being on the field in a football game and seeing the block you have to make. It’s hard, it seems unimportant, and irrelevant in the grand scheme. But if you’re in the press box, and seeing the entire field, you understand the grand scheme and the importance of that single block. (Dare I say, sacrifice?)

Until that revelation or view of things comes, we inwardly fret, publicly declare, and openly question God’s lack of comprehension of the situation we’re facing. Especially, when these impossible things are happening in the lives of others because our ego is in play.

We want to be able to explain and give understanding to everyone who asks the big questions of, “why?” It’s satisfying, it’s empowering, to provide answers and clarity. To demonstrate we have a knowledge about how all of this God stuff works.

Another reason we get frustrated with God’s lack of plan or sensitivity is that we don’t really stick around long enough, stay close, or remain well invested in the lives of others to see enlightenment come. We’re usually someplace else when understanding lands, and the light shines on the great that God has done in His timing.

It’s a tough thing to deal with. It’s tough to come to grips with the truth that even though we are created by God, loved by God, given eternal life by God…We are not God. We are not close to being God. We do not have God’s omnipotence, omniscience, nor the ability to be omnipresent…No one, nothing, nobody has that power but God himself.

So instead of having answers to give…we are called to share the faith we have. And sharing the faith verbally is not enough. We have to live our faith through all of life’s maelstroms. The world needs to see us stand and not panic when the enemy surrounds us.

Do we have the faith to trust in God and let him work out His plans according to His will? The faith to accept the truth that, God, the Creator of all things, and through whom all things are made…does not have to explain himself to us?

Try that one on for size…Trying coming to grips with the fact that you are the created and not the Creator. That Philippians 2:9-11 (read scripture below) applies to believers as well as to the demons and those under the earth.

If you can allow yourself to come to grips with the reality that you do not have authority above the Creator of the universe, you will gain vision you never thought possible. If you can obtain a mindset—girded by faith—to trust that God always knows what he’s doing, you will begin to see things as you’ve never seen them before. Spiritually, it’s like being seated in the press box and looking down on the field.

“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill”—Numbers 23:19

You see the teams set up, you look at the defenders rush the quarterback and think; “Wow! He’s going to get smashed!” But then the pass goes over the top of the defenders to a receiver who has a wall of blockers in front of him.

How many times in our walk with God have we foreseen certain disaster/destruction/failure only to see Him exercise a plan more magnificent than we could ever have conceived?

Live your faith, stick to it when the storms come, and let God do his thing.

When it comes to your neighbor, your friend, or dear family…Live your faith, encourage them to stick to it, and reiterate that God will fulfill all of his promises. Promises to never forsake nor abandon us.

Don’t worry about having all the answers, don’t worry about trying to accelerate God’s timing.

Develop the confidence to say; “I don’t get it, but I’m excited about what God is going to do in this situation.”

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”—2 Peter 3:9

Throw the block, make the sacrifice and faithfully execute your part in God’s grand scheme.

***“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:9-11***