Finding Faithfulness

God is faithful.

We know this is certain. A covenant promise. Throughout the Bible, one is confronted time after time with instances in which He fulfils a promise (rescuing the Israelites from every possible bad guy ever, Abraham's having a son, Nehemiah getting done the wall of Jerusalem, Jesus Himself, et cetera...) In nearly every case, we have seen God work in miraculous ways the likes of which, honestly, few of us will ever see ourselves. When was the last time God parted a river on your way to work?

Yeah, not exactly happening.

Clearly, God the Rock is constant in nature and character. His intentions never change because, well, He isn't constrained to our scale of time. However, how He chooses to have influenced our lives is particular and individually distinct from each and every other person. Custom tailored have our lives been so that we are who we are. So we are where we are. So you know who you know. Right now.

My question is then thus: how are we to distinguish God's faithfulness in our lives today? When I look back on the life I have lived, how am I to identify that which is directly of God and that which isn't?

Without much else in explanation, I feel there are a couple logical roads that one could follow after the previous question:

1. Everything is an example of His faithfulness, including that which is supernatural in character.
   
2. Nothing is an example of His faithfulness except that which is supernatural in character.

I'm most positive these are less likely roads than ends in a spectrum of possibility, but regardless. The difference in the above lies in how we view the events around us.

The fact that I'm living in a house, with food readily available, and plenty of comfort... is this God's faithfulness, or simply a result of living in a prosperous country? Is my living in a prosperous country directly a result of God's planning and provision?

I would then ask, if in fact it is God's faithfulness, this comfort I enjoy, is that also to say that three quarters of the world experience less of God's faithfulness than I? Or is it simply different faithfulness?

Hmm...

A Time for all things: Faith

Faith is... so very important. This goes without saying. Christianity would be nothing if it were not for this concept. Without it, an Infinite God is beyond the scope of a belief system, because faith is what is required to fill the gaps of what we don't know or understand.

It allows us to act without having all the pieces.

It allows us to verbalize without knowing the full impact of our words.

It also provides followers of Christ a convenient cop-out for not pursuing a more intimate understanding of God.

Most of Christianity, surely, compares depth of adherence to Biblical precepts with that of a Relationship. Our "Relationship" with Christ. Therefore, I will continue along similar lines of analogy. As with any friendship, understanding is very key. If I were asked if I understood the one I loved, and answered "no, not in the least." what would your impression be of my love?

That it's shallow. Surface. Self-serving, even?

( --> Oh, how easy it is to sustain a merely self-gratifying level of Christianity...)

Problem: God, being infinite as He is, certainly is not completely understandable. Or even comprehensible! So, then, how much is too much to expect?

At what point are we depriving our relationship of Faith? At what point are we depriving it of knowledge?

Selah