Cave faith

Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; ruthless people are trying to kill me – they have no regard for you.  But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.  Turn to me and have mercy on me; show your strength in behalf of your servant; save me, because I serve you just as my mother did. Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.  (Psalm 86:14-17 NIV)

Psalm 86 is filled with the invisible blessings of God.  David declares that God is forgiving, good, abounding in love and faithfulness, marvelous, compassionate, and gracious. 

He asserts that God answers us, brings us joy, delivers us from depths, and gives strength, help, and comfort.

But in verse 17, David, like so many of us, seems to have doubted these attributes for a moment as he asks, “give me a sign.”

David was faithful to keep his part of the Covenant:  he sang and rejoiced in God’s invisible attributes, blessings, and promises.   He believed them with his heart and confessed them with his mouth.  This is a beautiful picture of faith.

But when he saw how ruthless his enemies were, when he heard their arrogant taunts, he wondered, “is my faith really working?”

How many times have I asked the same thing – “give me a sign that you hear me, that you really are good and powerful, that you really will deliver me from my enemies.”

I don’t know if David received a sign that night or not, but in Hebrews 11:1, we see that David’s faith itself was the sign, the “evidence of things not seen.”

Whaaaat?  David was hiding in a cave from a ruthless enemy who was literally hunting him down to kill him, and when he asked for a sign that God would deliver him, the only sign he would receive for 10 years may have been his faith.

While being hunted by Saul and his army, David made a choice, every day for 10 years, to believe and declare that God would deliver him, and this choice that he made was the only “sign” he would get until the day he was delivered.

Amazing.

Our faith is apparently not only a sign to us.  It’s also a sign to the ruthless enemy that attacks and opposes us.  Paul later wrote:

I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.  (Philippians 1:27,28 NIV)

The enemy taunts, we respond with faith, and he immediately knows the endgame.

For me, this puts the role of faith in a whole new light.  Faith is a sign that we will succeed, not just to us but also to our enemy.  

And not only that; as was the case with David, our faith is the thing that eventually gives us the victory.

this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  (1 John 5:4)

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973,1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.