Invisible

“Who had the longest labor?” the pastor asked walking into the congregation. It was Mother’s Day service at church and the pastor was giving out prizes for different things. People started shouting out different allotments of time...6 hours, 13 hours, 27 hours. “Humph,” I said under my breath, “try three days.” I wasn’t going to shout it out but to me, I won that prize so I sat there silently wearing my invisible crown until the hours people were shouting turned into days. Looks like I had some competition. “Two days! Five days! Seven days!” someone shouted causing the pastor to stop dead in his tracks. “It didn't even take Jesus that long to rise from the dead,” he said as the crowd erupted in laughter, “I think we have a winner!”

Sometimes I just sit and stare at our daughter. If she knew what I was doing she would probably think it was creepy. It's not her physical beauty that I'm enamored with, it's the fact that she's real. By real I mean... here... alive...an actual person. It's insane to me that she's here because the journey was so difficult but every time I look at her I am reminded of God’s goodness and I never cease to be amazed by the fulfillment of His promise.

It is difficult to believe, especially when you cannot see what you are believing for. We live in a physical world, with stimuli everywhere that appeal to our physical senses. But what about the stuff we can’t see, what sense does that appeal to? Faith. Faith is like our eyeballs for things invisible. Our sense of sight is that which gives us evidence of the physical world. Our sense of faith is that which allows us to see what has not yet materialized (Heb. 11:1). Take Abraham for instance, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Rom. 4:19-22). Abraham saw his body was well into maturity, he knew his wife was also at a very big age, but his sense of faith was stronger than his sense of sight and he believed God’s promises more than he believed what he could physically see.

I always thought that if I had a superpower, it would be invisibility. Ahhh to be invisible, think of the advantages. You get to be all up in people's business without them knowing; you get to shop in peace without those people who sell windows approaching you in the store and I think what is most appealing to me is that you get to see what people are really like...their true colors. I wonder if that is why God is invisible. Maybe He wants to know who is going to believe without seeing. If we saw God in all His glory, how could we not believe but if we are faced with the physical and have to put our faith in that which is unseen, well now, that's doing something.

In 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter describes how captivated the angels are with the salvation of mankind. They are truly in awe of how we as humans experience God’s grace and mercy. They know God's goodness firsthand; they see His holiness and awesomeness every day so they marvel at our faith because they wonder how we can so fervently believe in that which we cannot see, that which is invisible.

God has already done everything He said He was going to do. “The LORD has done what He planned; He has fulfilled His Word, which He decreed long ago” (Lam. 2:17). “Whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezek. 12:28). “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). God has a plan for you, something put into place long before He created the earth. That child, that husband or wife, that home, that business, that promotion, the salvation of a lost family member, that deliverance from addiction, that emotional or physical healing, it is invisible now, but it is on the way to manifestation. Every promise God has made is already complete! It is through faith in His promises that we cannot see, that our hopes and dreams come to fruition.

Commune with God through His Holy Word and see your sense of faith strengthen. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart” (Ps. 27:14). And when the wait is over and that which was once invisible can now physically be seen, you might find yourself staring at it a little longer than you should, you know, because God never ceases to amaze with the fulfillment of His promises.