Have you ever heard that statement before? Possibly as in, " I know it beyond the shadow of a doubt". Usually someone may say this meaning that they believe they know the absolute truth of something and have no doubt of its validity. When you are absolutely sure of something and have no doubt of it whatsoever, there is nothing that can make you move from that knowledge or believe otherwise.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had the opportunity to do something and everything looked great and favorable, but you had just a small feeling of fear that it wouldn't work out as planned? That small feeling of fear, is the shadow of a doubt. Doubt is defined as distrust, a lack of confidence, fear. Doubt has kept many people from doing great things. Doubt can cripple and destroy faith.
We need to realize something. A shadow never hurt anyone and a shadow is always bigger than the actual thing it is the shadow of. Have you ever seen in a cartoon where a big scary shadow was creeping up on someone and they were afraid of what was coming, but when it got there it was nothing to be afraid of? That is what Satan wants to trick us into thinking whenever we get stirred up or compelled by God to do something for Him and the kingdom or something that would show His glory.
God tells us He will lead and guide us. Psalm 32:8 says,
" I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide the with mine eye".
God is telling us that He will explain and teach us the way we should go with our lives. He says that he will guide us with His eye. I know that sounds weird, but think of it like this. As He is guiding us, we will see things as He sees them and see the things He sees. If we see things as He sees and as He sees them, then there is nothing we could not be prepared to handle or face. We may still have to face it, but it will not be as hard to face it as it would be if we were to be taken by surprise. One of my favorite verses in the bible is Hebrews 11:1.
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ".
Let's look at this verse a little closer. It says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance is what makes up something, i.e. a house is made of wood and metals and plastics and stones. Faith, which is believing and trusting God to do what He says He will do, is the substance of whatever you are hoping for. Hope means to expect. We have taken hope and turned it into wishing in our lives. We say " I sure hope so ", or " I hope it does ". What we are really saying is I wish it would happen, but I really don't expect it to. We have to turn our hope around from wishing to expecting.
The second part, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Again faith meaning to believe and trust God. Evidence, what is evidence? Evidence is proof of something. When someone is in court they must have evidence or proof of whatever it is they are trying to convince the judge and jury of. So faith ( your belief and trust in God to do what He says He will do ) is the evidence of whatever it may be that you are hoping ( expecting ) for but do not see at the present moment.
Living by faith is not easy. It isn't supposed to be. If it was easy then it wouldn't be faith. The bible says that the just live by faith and that it is impossible to please God without faith. What this means is that if we are Christ followers, Christians and God is our God then we should be able to trust Him as such. It makes us feel good when we know someone sees us as trustworthy. God wants us to allow Him to prove His trustworthiness to us. He wants us to trust Him with our lives. That is why living by faith pleases Him. He wants us to trust in Him.
I believe when we overcome fear in our lives, in whatever form it may be in, then we can walk in faith and God can direct our paths and show Himself to an unbelieving world. Doing this we will move beyond the shadow of a doubt.
In Christ, Kevin
