“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
(2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV)
There is a strange thing happening in our house.
Just as a little background, I used to collect little statues of elephants. I actually had quite the collection! But perhaps I shouldn’t put that in past tense. We still have the collection. It’s just that I don’t add to it anymore!
My wife has put our entire collection of elephant statuettes on a special shelf in one of the spare bedrooms. To be honest, I hadn’t looked at that collection in years, and the only reason I knew we still had the collection was that one day after moving into our new house, my wife took me by the hand and showed me where she had put the collection on display!
Imagine my surprise when certain members of that elephant “herd” began appearing on the dresser in my bedroom…
My wife noticed it first and asked me why they were there. I had no idea. I hadn’t even noticed them on the dresser until she pointed them out.
And then, the next day, the herd was larger. Instead of two, there were three, and then four!
Again, my wife noticed it first. I thought she would again ask me why they were there, but instead, she asked me why — I — had put them there! Me? How could she possibly accuse me of that! I didn’t even know they were there!
And so it went, day after day. Sometimes there were fewer elephants on the dresser. My wife would always admit to having moved them back to their display shelf; but she always insisted that I was the one putting them on the dresser.
But wouldn’t I remember doing such a thing? And I would adamantly deny it day after day.
One day my wife suggested maybe they had “walked” over from one bedroom to another. Her tone suggested that she thought the idea was absurd, that she was being facetious; but I took her literally. I looked across the hallway to the spare bedroom, imagining my little “herd” of elephant statuettes sauntering their way across from one room to the other… The theory was plausible. Almost. How would they get from the floor to the dresser top?
My wife must have read my thoughts. “Maybe they jumped up!” she suggested. Again, I didn’t completely recognize the twinkle in her eye, but her silly tone did suggest she knew how the elephants got there. And the way she was looking at — me — “I don’t know how they got here!” I insisted.
And so the game continued. She would put the elephants back on their own shelf, and “somehow” they always made their way back to the dresser top… To date I am watching that hallway like a hawk. I really want to see those elephant statuettes “sauntering” across the floor and “jumping” onto the dresser!
The thing is, whether I remember it or not, the only way those elephant statuettes could possibly get from one room to another is if they were carried. And since my wife denies doing it — and I have no reason to doubt her honesty! — and the elephants are too high off the ground for the dog to transport them, there is only one plausible explanation: I was doing it, but immediately forgetting I had done it! However, I don’t believe I’m transporting the elephant statuettes from one room to another because I don’t remember doing it. And the fact that I have a known, severe memory deficit doesn’t change my mind at all! I mean, dementia or not, surely I would know if I was moving elephants!
Nonetheless, this doesn’t change the facts! I am moving those elephants from one room to the other!
This little “game” reminds me a lot of our walk in faith. God doesn’t ask us to direct our lives by what we can see, He asks us to direct our lives by faith in Him! Sometimes that means that we have to believe what seems impossible. We have to have faith that God is in charge, that He is answering our prayers, even when, and perhaps especially when our eyes tell us the exact opposite!
As I have previously written, about two years into my dementia diagnosis God gave me a promise. He promised to heal me. It was a double promise, actually. He promised to heal my torn shoulder muscle that was giving me excruciating and constant pain, and He promised to heal my dementia. And He confirmed these promises the very next day when I woke up to absolutely no shoulder pain.
As the years went by, however, and I was forced to watch my cognition fall lower and lower, it was harder to believe the promise. After all, I was experiencing failing cognition, and this was “proof” that the promise of my healing wasn’t true. Nonetheless, I determined to walk by faith and not by sight, and I proceeded, for the next four years, to tell everyone I was healed. Naturally, they didn’t believe me. My condition was too advanced. And then, sadly, my cognition dipped to the point that I no longer even remembered receiving the promise…
So what do we all do? Do we believe what our eyes are telling us? Or do we choose to walk by faith?
This reminds me of the apostle Thomas. He wasn’t present when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, and when the others told him, Thomas said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25 NKJV). Eight days later, He again appeared to the disciples, only this time Thomas was present. Thomas’ response? “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28b NKJV).
Jesus’ response to Thomas resounds through the ages: “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29 NKJV)
Yes, we can choose to believe what our eyes see over what God has told us. Nonetheless, it doesn’t change the facts. Just like what I believe doesn’t change how the elephants are getting from one room to another, when it comes to faith, it really doesn’t matter what our eyes tell us, nor does it matter what logic dictates. What matters is that God is trustworthy! Our job is to walk by faith and not by sight. Our job is to believe!
I wonder if maybe the cat is moving the elephants… No? She’s not big enough? Hum…
Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries