The Audacity of Faith

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

Exodus‬ ‭5:1

I have an elder brother who is a priest at the Methodist Church in Nigeria. One day during his morning devotion, the Holy Spirit instructed him to go to a particular popular monarch and deliver this message: “If you do not desist from your evil ways, I will cut you down soon.” Although Nigeria is a democratic country, where the monarchs are not so powerful unlike political leaders, it took him one month to finally agree to go. 

On the day he went, he felt like he died several times before reaching the scene. The thought of the possible outcome made him so afraid. He thought about the possibility of being detained or even killed, but he did it with great fear and trust in the Lord. The only evidence he had was God’s word.

My brother’s case was nowhere close to the message being sent through Moses at this time, when Pharaoh was the most powerful king of the known world, worshipped as a god, and his words were law. Yet, God sent Moses (a man with a death warrant on his head) to go and tell Pharaoh “Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.” All Moses had was an assurance that the Lord spoke to him, it was enough. 

Romans 10:17 tells us that “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” There is something about God’s word that can make us audacious, make us bold in the face of impossible challenges, opposition and missions. God’s word produces faith in us. 

However, God’s word is only able to produce such audacity if we first acknowledge God’s word as what it is. We must first come to terms with the authority of the word, only then can we possess the conviction to hold on to it even if everything around us says otherwise. Do you trust God’s word?

PRAYER