“Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.” I can remember hearing this for the first time from my mother-in-law Bessie who is now with the Lord. She spoke from a long experience of finding her Savior faithful.

What is faith? It’s trusting God and believing His promises. Faith means you let go of worry and give it all to God to sort out. Faith means not looking at the problem, but looking to Jesus. If you recall, when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the waves, he began to sink and cried out, “Lord, save me!” And Jesus reached out and took hold of him. When we have faith, we don’t sink; but even when we start to sink, we can still cry out to God. He will never leave us or forsake us. That’s an absolute surety.

Troubles can be a lot like the waves. I can’t imagine a more “insecure” place to be than walking on the waves. If Jesus doesn’t keep you up, nothing will.  Life is full of troubled waves, and you may feel pretty helpless out there walking on them. Remember Who you are with and where to keep your eyes. Don’t get distracted by the troubles and look at them. That’s a sure fire way to start to go down. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. He will finish what He has started. He doesn’t get distracted and look away.

Look at each hard providence in your life as an opportunity to work out your faith and make it stronger. Each time you trust God, your faith increases. Each time you lean on Him, He carries the load. And if we had no difficulties, we would have a very flabby faith. Let each and every trouble be a faith-builder. That’s what the troubles are for. Don’t miss any of your opportunities.

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