Faith without works is dead. This literally means you need to back your positive confessions  with some actions to make them qualified to be called acts of faith.

With the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains.

It is like faith and actions are an inseparable pair. But how about those times when faith actually requires that you don’t act? How about those times when acting is rather a sign of fear and lack of faith? Faith can actually expect you to stay calm and not move. Inaction is still an action. Therefore, the saying still holds: faith without works(action) is dead.

Accompanying your convictions with actions seems the most logical thing to do. But when you voice your belief and that same belief system in itself requires that you stay put and don’t move, dear friends it is hard to cope with. You automatically start fidgeting. It is just like being told by the doctor to wait outside his consulting room till he calls you in. Watching the hours literally slip by coupled with no notifications from the said doctor concerning how many minutes more you would have to wait for him can kill! The temptation to believe he might have fallen asleep or forgotten about your appointment will weigh heavy on your mind. Your best bet is to knock the door to give him a gentle reminder. But how would he take it? Could he be irritated by you assuming that he had forgotten about you or would he welcome the gesture? It is just an overwhelming feeling but you would have to endure the emotional roller coaster and either walk up and down the hallway or even hum your favorite song hoping he would hear you and be reminded of your presence. When you think about it, you will realize that you are just impatient. You will also realize that if you did exactly what he asked you to do – wait – you would not have to go through that trauma. Did he state categorically that he would call you in? If yes, then your actions show that you don’t have faith in him and what he said. Impatience is indeed the strongest indicator of a lack of faith.

In the bible, a rather short story is told of a man called Uzzah during the reign of David. The Ark of the Covenant had just returned to Israel and as expected there was a lot of jubilation and merry making. The Ark rode on a cart attached to oxen. The oxen stumbled, hence it appeared the Ark could fall off and the worst could have happened to it. The Ark represented the presence of God; the Ark was God in their midst. The command was, ‘nobody should touch the Ark of the Covenant’ – absolutely nobody. We are presented with a very interesting scenario here. The untouchable Ark is about to crush on the ground, what do you do? I won’t lie; I would have done what Uzzah did. Uzzah went ahead and held the Ark in an attempt to save it from crushing on the ground. God struck him dead there and then. Uzzah wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t attempted to save the day. The absurd thing is he was trying to save God. How on earth do you do that … to give God a helping hand? In this case, a person who was full of faith in God wouldn’t have made this mistake. As I have stated already, in some cases, faith requires that you don’t act. Sometimes faith doesn’t require actions but inaction. But in faith inactivity is sometimes recorded as activity; inaction is sometimes the expected action.

As hard as it seems, this is the truth. That sometimes God requires that you be still and know that He is God. He does this especially on occasions where He has spoken already. Sometimes He speaks and requires that you take an action which will yield some tremendous results for you. Nevertheless, after honoring your side of the covenant He appears quiet or totally ignorant of your plight. The pain! The feeling of betrayal! In times like that, please know that faithful is He who has said it, and He is faithful and more than able to perform it.

The moment when you think your actions could save the day but God requires that you wait for him is one painful experience. After Jesus’ death, the apostles’ lives were in danger because the Jews were after them to prosecute them too. But Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the father (the Holy Spirit). The dilemma: to leave Jerusalem and be out of harm’s way or obey the command of God? Waiting on God is not easy, but from the experience of the Apostles, it is worth it a million times more because they reaped tremendous benefits by waiting in Jerusalem. The story is also told of Simeon an elderly man which is quite similar to the story of the 84 year old prophetess, Anna. These two waited with great patience for the birth of the promised Messiah (this is faith). Note: the birth of the messiah was prophesied many centuries before their time by Isaiah and many others. How silly they must have looked to their friends and families, waiting for a prophecy that was many centuries old. Anna was known to be always fasting and praying in anticipation of the birth of the promised Messiah of Israel and the world. We should all learn from this, that while waiting it is best to be prayerful and thankful. Simeon desired to see Jesus and then die peacefully. Only God knows how many years they waited. Guess what, their waiting wasn’t in vain because they were waiting on God. Waiting on God is worth it.

Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to their lifespan?

This is a question Jesus asked in Matthew 6. Anxiety and impatience are a strong indication of a lack of faith in He who it is you are waiting on. If it is God you are waiting on, be rest-assured that He will show up. Maybe not at the time you would have wanted him to, but at the end you will realize that it all makes sense; the wait will make sense. You might just realize you weren’t even ready for your desires when you thought you were.

REFERENCES: LUKE2, 2nd SAMUEL6:7A