The Dance of Faith

A few months ago God whispered to me to “celebrate as if the victory was already mine”. I must admit that it was harder than it sounds. There were days where my faith was over the top and the celebrating came easy, but then there were also days where the cold hard facts of what I was facing overwhelmed my mind and took the dance right out of my feet.

The Father reminded me that this moment in time would never be repeated. I would never have this exact time again to worship Him in the midst of my unknowing. I realized then that uncertainty is the perfect altar to offer up a sacrifice of praise to Him. This offering of praise is a sweet fragrance to Him I believe.

Then He spoke to me about Miriam. Remember Miriam? She was Moses and Aaron’s sister who led the women in a celebratory dance after the Israelites had crossed through the Red Sea that God had parted. He assured me that He enjoyed her celebration, but then He said something that caused my heart to skip a beat. He said, “wouldn’t it have been cool if Miriam had led the dance before they crossed over?”

I realized then that what Miriam did was wonderful and needed. But, her act of worship didn’t really require a lot of faith. The miracle had already occurred. I am in no way criticizing Miriam’s actions. She was amazing and God saw her jubilant dance as important enough to record in scripture. But, God used her story to encourage me to aspire to a faith that dances before the victory; a faith that calls things that are not as though they were, a faith that celebrates a reality before I see it manifest. This is what true faith is, after all.

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. True faith carries weight and actually has substance. True faith rests in what God has said and then pulls it into this reality. When we have not seen the things we are hoping for yet, it can feel in our minds as if they have no substance. But, the first part of Hebrews 11: 1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for…”. What has substance in the unseen realm can now have substance in the seen realm through our faith.

Our faith is also evidence. In a courtroom, evidence has to be given to prove a case. Our faith acts in a similar way and is proof of things not yet seen. Faith is a gift of God and serves as evidence that the promise of God, or thing that we have not yet seen, is a sure thing.

I must admit that the subject of faith still boggles my mind. There is something so mysteriously wonderful about it. Faith is God’s creation after all, and He is the author and finisher of each one of our faith. As He writes our faith story we are each given opportunities to step into and develop our measure of faith. It is exciting that no, two faith stories are alike, and so we each must walk in close relationship with the Holy Spirit to navigate our unique journey of faith. What an adventure to be on this journey with Him!