“That Is Why You Fail”

Knowing and really believing that God can do the impossible makes all the difference. That’s what the Bible calls faith.

In the second Star Wars movie made, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker crashes his fighter craft into a swamp on the planet where he was told to look for Jedi master Yoda.

After finally locating Yoda, Luke attempts to raise his fighter back up out of the swamp using the “force.” He fails, however. After Luke walks away, Yoda raises the craft using the force. Luke examines the craft before finally looking at Yoda.

“I don’t believe it,” he said to the little Jedi master. Yoda calmly answered, “That is why you fail.”

What about us? Do we fail because we don’t believe? I’m not talking about some mythical force. Do we believe God?

People with faith

Believing is also described as having faith. We are given the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

The Bible tells us some of the people down through the ages who have had faith in God. Hebrews 11 lists names such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob—and the list goes on for the rest of the chapter. It tells about what they did and what they went through. Some of the faithful include:

• Abraham, who was called the father of the faithful.
• Moses, who faithfully followed God through the wilderness.
• Rahab, who was saved from the fate of Jericho by her faith.

The centurion’s faith

Another example of faith is described in Luke 7. This passage tells us that Jesus entered the city of Capernaum where elders of the Jews met Him. They were sent by a centurion who had a servant who was very dear to him and close to death.

Jesus went with the elders, but the centurion sent friends out to Him saying, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed” (verses 6-7).

Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith. He turned around and said to the people who were following Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (verse 9).

Jesus was amazed and pleased. He hadn’t seen faith like this man’s before that point. He healed the centurion’s servant that same hour (Matthew 8:13).

“You did not believe”

Despite all the amazing stories of faith in the Bible, it can be challenging to always believe God. We see an example of this from Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist.

When it was his time to burn incense in the temple of the Lord, he was visited by the archangel Gabriel. Zacharias was told that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a boy.

Zacharias was greatly surprised and doubted this miracle would happen. He said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years” (Luke 1:18). Zacharias doubted God. It seems like he was thinking, “You can’t do that. I’m old and so is my wife. We can’t have children—not at our age.”

Gabriel answered him and said, “You will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time” (verse 20).

True to Gabriel’s word, Zacharias came out of the temple and he could not speak (verse 22) until after John the Baptist was born (verse 64).

Likely Zacharias was sorry for his momentary doubt of the angel’s message. He and Elizabeth were truly too old to have kids, but God proved that He had the power to work a miracle. God showed Zacharias where he was wrong, and I imagine Zacharias learned the lesson.

The power of faith

When you have faith in God, you are in the best of hands. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to worry: “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matthew 6:27).

Worrying doesn’t get us anywhere. However, if we have faith in God and trust that He will take care of us, then we won’t need to worry.

In the book of Mark, Jesus gave another lesson in faith in His power. Jesus was hungry as He was walking along the road not long before His death, and He saw a fig tree. However, seeing it had no figs, He cursed it (Mark 11:12-14).

The next day, as they passed by the same tree, they noticed that the tree was dried up from the roots (verse 20.) The disciples were amazed. Peter said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away” (verse 21).

Jesus calmly replied, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (verses 22-24).

If we believe God, we will enjoy life much more. We need to have faith in God. God will hold up His end of the deal. We need to hold up our end. If we have the faith in God that He wants from us, He will help us in every way He deems best. Let’s not fail because we don’t believe.

For more about believing God and having living faith, see the section on “Faith” on the LifeHopeandTruth.com website.

Andrew Travers is a junior at Vinton County High School. He attends the Athens, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, with his family.