Faith for the Cray

Last night, my friend came over to watch the premiere of the History Channel's new miniseries, “The BIble.”

With our red wine in hand and my archaeological Bible from cemetery -- uh, seminary -- between us, we flipped through Genesis and Exodus as we followed the sequence of events on screen, marveling at how details we had easily forgotten from the most common Bible stories were so impressively brought to life. 


During one of the commercial breaks we discussed Abraham’s faith, a topic of conversation anyone who has read the Old Testament is sure to have had at least once. 

Reading in a seminary class, or for small group preparation or even in my own study of the Bible yielded different reflections than last night as we watched select events from Abraham’s life play out.

Before this show, I marveled at his faith. I dreamt of what it would be like to blindly follow a God no one had ever seen, before the Good Book was written as a guide, before our Savior walked the Earth. This is when Abraham followed. And what excuse do I have, again?

Last night, though, I felt different about Abraham’s faith. I mean, I still thought it was incredible, but can I be honest? The man I saw on screen was straight up cray.

A magnificent faith he had, yes, but I totally understand why Lot was unsure about the way Abraham was leading their family. Lot’s wife, on the other hand, was nerve wrecking, but I’m not here to judge.

I understand Lot’s fear, though. And Sarah’s gentle doubt. I understand why, after nearly being sacrificed, Isaac sprinted to his mother’s arms rather than celebrating God’s provision with his father. I get it. I get why it was hard for others to support Abraham’s vision 100% without hearing the same message. I understand why there were probably rumors circulating about the crazy old man.

But maybe, just maybe, that is what our faith is supposed to look like. Straight up cray. I mean, if it makes sense, then there would be no space for God to work a miracle. And if we’re not creating space for God to work miracles, are we even creating space for God?

Now I’m not saying if something doesn’t necessitate a demonstration of crazy faith that it is not from God. I’m just saying if you can do everything on your own, it’s probably not a miracle you’re looking for.

I wonder where we would be if Abraham had abandoned his crazy faith with the other doubters? I mean, he still would have believed in God, sacrificed and continued with the rituals, professed his gratefulness for God’s daily blessings. He could have done that and been fine. I know, because I do those things.

But what if he had left it at that? Where would we be? Biblically, we can argue that we would be non-existent. We could also argue that God would probably have chosen someone else through whom to birth a nation out of their obedience.

So this brings me to my reflection: we will be fine if we cover the basics, share our testimonies, praise God and cast our cares on Him. That is all within His will for our lives.

But what if we adopted some straight up cray faith? I’m talking about the kind of faith where you are listening to God and following Him in ways that outsiders truly think you may need to be committed. Imagine what God could do through you.

Abraham and his wife wanted a son. Just one child. That was their dream. God made Abraham the freaking father of a nation. Abraham wished for one, God delivered descendants as numerous as the stars.

Think about the impossible in your life. Now think about how God can absolutely blow that out of the water. All it takes is crazy faith.

Why sell ourselves short and stop at “just fine” faith? I mean, we worship the creator of the Universe. Like, the One who actually made EVERYTHING.

Why just wish to walk again when you can pray to a Father who moves mountains for the ability to run?

Why just desire a job that can pay bills when you can pray for a job that affords you provision and allows generosity out of abundance?

Why just want physical/emotional healing when you can pray for an entire family?

But don’t just stop there. Why pray without believing?

You may say, “I do believe,” but the reality is if we truly believed, then we would be wildly obedient. If we truly believed, we would have crazy faith. And if we truly believed, well, that faith wouldn’t seem so crazy after all.

By the way, you can catch "The Bible" on the History Channel for the next four or five Sundays at 8pm.