I Believe In Love
This chorus of a song entitled “I Believe in Love” sung by BarlowGirl was taken from a poem written on the wall of a cellar, by a Jew in the Cologne concentration camp during WWII.
I believe in the sun even when it's not shining
I believe in love even when I don't feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe
We read stories about tremendous faith in God’s word. Sometimes they seem distant to me, because the events happened so long ago in a culture so very different from my own. But hearing this song really prompted me to stop and think about what it would take to have a faith like that; a faith that would hold on to hope despite desperate circumstances.
This chorus reminds me of some of the things that we can and should have faith in. In my opinion the song lists them in order of how much faith is required to believe.
First, we can believe the sun its still there even when its covered by clouds. We usually do see the sun, unless you live in Seattle, and because of its consistency, even children understand that it is always there without any need of scientific proof. Still it does take some faith to know it will shine again.
Secondly, we can believe that love exists even when we can’t feel it myself. Obviously this would take some faith while being imprisoned by people filled with such hatred.
Finally, we can believe in God even when He seems silent in our lives. Many people have given up on God because of “unanswered prayers” or a lack of intervention. Many often ask, “If You are a loving Father, why won’t You [fill in the blank]?”
God didn’t create us to be robots, blindly following Him automatically. Rather He wants us to exhibit faith in Him, and to choose to believe Him, despite not directly seeing or hearing Him.
Faith is a tricky thing. We are told to pray to the Master of the universe for more faith. Yet it does not come in a gift wrapped box from Amazon.com. Faith comes through trials, because those trials give us the chance to be tested, persevere, overcome and believe in God even when it seems the evidence is lacking.
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials... This is easier said than done, but something we need to endeavor towards! It seems counter-intuitive to pray for unpleasant circumstances, but God chastens those whom He loves. We need to remember that God tells us "...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8 NIV).
When I am feeling a bit discouraged in a trial, I’ll sometimes listen to this song and remember that faith is about believing in what you CAN’T see.
