If I Had Not Believed...

By John Stallings


A short time ago America’s top commander, General David Petraeus fainted during a congressional hearing as he was being grilled by senators about US strategy in Afghanistan.

He collapsed about an hour into the hearing as John McCain questioned him. McCain stopped mid-sentence, his face frozen as Petraeus slumped forward from his seat.

The hearing was suspended as Petraeus, looking dazed was led out by army colleagues. He returned 20 minutes later, blaming skipping breakfast and jet-lag and dehydration for the fainting spell. Thankfully the general bounced back quickly and resumed answering questions without a hitch.

I remember a lady in one of the churches my father pastored when I was a kid who would keel over once in a while. She had a tendency to do this in hot weather at picnics or outdoor events when she was surrounded by people. The only explanation I ever heard was that when people are crowded together, especially in the Florida heat [I’ve sometimes wondered if we don’t have our own Sun] it has a way of sucking up the oxygen. Most people aren’t terribly affected by this and never faint, but obviously some do.

When I was growing up, there would be a youngster now and then who’d faint, or something akin to it, on the playground. There were times I wished I could have fainted but somehow never did.

As long as a bad fall doesn’t occur and things are otherwise uneventful, as soon as the person regains consciousness they can just pick up where they left off.

However, sometimes people will slump over or fall down and though it might look as if they’ve fainted, it’s much more serious like a heart attack or stroke.

FAINTING GOATS

Maybe you’ve heard of the “fainting goats.” These little fellows suffer from a genetic condition which causes them to faint at the slightest provocation. You can say “boo” to them and they’ll fall over, stiff as a board. If you’ve never seen one of these you can check them out on YouTube. Any kind of stress, even the stress of hearing the dinner bell ring can knock them over. Of course it only lasts for a few seconds and they’re back on their feet. The younger goats are most susceptible to this. The older ones have learned to control it and the most you’ll see of them is their legs will stiffen and they’ll just stand for a moment, then all is well again.

A MORE SERIOUS KIND OF FAINTING…

In Psalm 27:13, David said;

I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
David explains that he had a close call. His knees had gone weak and the whole world seemed to grow black for him. He had been on the verge of toppling over in a dead faint. David is speaking here of spiritual fainting.

But when he was reeling in his tracks and ready to fall, there was one firm staff that wouldn’t break in the grip of his clutching fingers. There was one solid wall he could lean on without fear that it would give way. Here’s how David puts it as he looks back over it all. He declares with humility;--I would have fainted unless I had believed… he leaned on his faith in God that things would be made right. That was the only hope he saw.

Fainting is one of the most common and deadly foes you and I have to face. We know from our own experience with it that it can be a worker of havoc in our lives. For every one who faints physically there are literally scores who faint spiritually. How many spiritual fainters are there in our churches?

When a person has fainted, they’re no good to anyone during that time. Once they could be counted on to be in their places. But as soon as someone keels over they lose their availability. Their fire of enthusiasm has gone out. They have become spiritually listless and lifeless. They’re almost like a dead person. Might as well not hand them a songbook, they can’t sing. Don’t call on them to pray, they can’t do that either. No need to preach to them they can’t listen. As in actual physical fainting, when a persons having a spiritual fainting fit, others have to come to them and help them. Others must leave their posts in order to look after them. Where they once were an asset, now they’re a liability. They are huge rocks standing in the mouth of the grave where God is trying to raise some needy Lazarus from the dead.

These fainters don’t mean to be antagonistic to the work of God. They aren’t vicious or living corrupt lives. They’ve just fainted.

I attended a funeral one time and at the graveside service, the elderly minister who was officiating was overcome by the stifling heat and had to be helped to a seat to regain his breath. He almost fell over into the Palms. Thankfully the “old soldier” was able to regain his composure and complete the service.

Sadly some people aren’t so fortunate to be able to bounce back from fainting. Their lives are strewn with half-finished tasks. There are paintings they didn’t quite paint and books thrown aside with only the preface written. What dreams or goals have we laid aside when we’d only just begun?

A large house of worship exists in Florida, not far from where we live. I visited the building during many of the stages of its being built and marveled at the immense size of it. The leader of the flock that was building this mammoth house of worship was constantly on T.V and radio sharing his vision of what God would do with this beautiful structure. Today that man is gone and the church has been sold and resold. Just a few huddle in a building almost large enough to have an inside weather pattern of its own. Why; because the builder fainted and gave up the work years ago.

I’m told that if you visit the Panama Canal Zone in certain areas you’ll see along the sides of the roads great heaps of machinery slowly sinking into the mud and wasting away. These worthless heaps were left the by the French in the early twentieth century when they undertook to build the canal to join two seas. The effort cost them untold amounts of money and not a few lives, but they left the task unfinished. At some point along the way the French decided the enterprise was either undesirable or impossible and they fainted before their dream became reality.

If lack of opportunely and lack of ability have slain their thousands, and they have, fainting has slain its tens of thousands. No amount of talent or ability or even genius can help us if we don’t have stick ability and staying power to see a thing through. It’s said of Thomas Edison that when he got on the track of a new invention he pursued it with the tenacity of a bull dog until it became reality.

AGAIN AND AGAIN -BIBLE WRITERS WARN AGAINST FAINTING.

The Holy Men of old who penned the Bible spoke of “not fainting” as one of the prominent characteristics of the hero’s of faith.

MOSES

The best compliment Moses could be given was that he endured. Heb. 11:27. There was opposition, there was disappointment, there were bitter heartaches but he endured. At age forty his picture was in all the Egyptian post offices because he had a murder rap on him but still he endured. The writers knew God had a great part to play in Moses’ success so they said: He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
ABRAHAMAbraham was drawn by a dream about a great nation that seemed destined never to come true. God had made him a lot of promises but long years had slipped by and nothing had come of it. We can say what we will about Abraham, he had this sturdy quality about him that just wouldn’t quit. The years were flying fast but the promised heir hadn’t come. But staunch old Abraham never believed for a moment that God was going to let him down. Paul writes about him with great admiration and says; he staggered not at the promises. Rom. 4:20. Refusing to faint, Abraham finally realized his dream.

WHAT ARE SOME CAUSES OF FAINTING?

1. SOME FAINT BECAUSE OF A BAD ATMOSPHERE
To be surrounded by stale air and not enough oxygen can cause some people to faint. Have you noticed that if you spend enough time around certain folk you’ll sort of take on the coloring of their personalities? This is almost inevitable. But there are some atmospheres that are rich with hope and help. Nowadays we hear the term “vibes” frequently. This is a new way of saying that people and places give off vibes, or create an atmosphere. The Apostle Peter created such an atmosphere because his shadow had healing in it. Acts 5:15.

There are homes you can enter and you feel a warm atmosphere of welcome. Visit other homes and you feel a chill that bites you like a killing frost. I have preached in some churches whose congregations and the attitude they projected lifted me on eagle wings. You say when you’re in these churches, “Surely God is in this place. Gen. 28:16. Others I have preached in made me feel as if I never wanted to preach again. We should beware of the atmosphere we create and also be aware of the atmosphere we’re in when we’re with our associates.

Juda and I visited a church in Orlando several years ago and the ushers, or “greeters” made us feel like we were members of the Mafia. The pastor seemed to be the only friendly guy in the place. As we drove home we discussed how drained we felt just by being in that atmosphere. Of course God blesses individuals, not groups so we can always get our soul fed no matter what, but that doesn’t mean we’d ever want to go back to an atmosphere like that. I heard a few months ago that the pastor of that church had resigned and returned to his roots in Europe and the church had folded. This didn’t come as surprise to us because the place had no spiritual breath.

There are atmospheres in which a vital spiritual life is flatly impossible.

You will remember the story of Herod and how he was influenced to have John the Baptist’s head cut off? Obviously Herod didn’t really want to kill John but he was influenced by the people around him. The Bible says;

For the sake of them that sat with him at meat, he commanded John to be killed. Matt. 14:9.

The companion of fools shall be destroyed. Prov. 13:20


2. SOME FAINT AT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD.


A young enthusiastic man came to Jesus one day with the best of intentions and said; Lord, I will follow you whithersoever thou goest. Matt. 8:19.

Jesus didn’t paint a very appetizing picture to the young man. He told him he was more homeless than a fox and if he followed Jesus, he may have to sleep unfed on a mountainside. In all reality, Jesus was showing this young man a cross with blood stains on it and the eager young man fell into a dead “faint.” He yearned for the benefits of being a follower of Jesus but the price was greater than he was willing to pay.

3. WE FAINT FROM SHEER EXHAUSTION.
The Christ life isn’t a life of drifting with the current but rather a going against the tide and at times we get tired.

Paul is seeking to strengthen us when he says;

And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.-Gal. 6:9

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.

Do you recognize the words above? They are the words of none other than the great apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:8—NLT.It sounds like Paul was ready to drop doesn’t it?

I heard about a man who ordered flowers for his deceased father and when the beautiful spray of flowers arrived at the funeral home the card attached read “Enjoy your trip.” It was obviously a mix-up at the florist so the man called to chew the people out who were responsible for the fluke. The florist shop worker, trying to defuse the situation told the man, “Sir, this isn’t so bad, somewhere in town at another funeral home is a spray of flowers with an attached card that reads, “Congratulations on your new location.” It sounds like fatigue & burn-out can happen even to people who work with flowers for a living.

Elijah had a fainting fit after his great victory at Mount Carmel. After that he ran seventeen miles to Jezreel then another day’s journey into the wilderness. He was so far gone he even asked God to kill him.

The Children of Israel got tired of wandering in the wilderness and wanted to go back to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. Numbers 11:5

In spite of all the temptations to faint by which David was surrounded somehow he managed to stand firm. He tells us;

I would have fainted- unless I had believed to see the goodnes of the Lord in the land of the living.

We’re told in Isa. 40:31- if we wait on God, we’ll be able to - run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
4. PRAYERLESSNESS WILL CAUSE US TO FAINT.

In Luke 18:1 Jesus told a parable;--to the end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.
Any problem you and I come to prayerless, we also come to it powerless.

In all candidness, I can relate to David’s feelings though we don’t know exactly what he makes reference to in Psalm 27. I see freedoms eroding and godlessness becoming prevalent everywhere I look these days in America.

If I didn’t have faith in God that He’ll straighten this mess out, I think I could engage in some “faint feelings” also.

But notice in the fourteenth verse right after David pours out his heart about believing God in spite of the way things look, he says;

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say wait on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks was lost at sea. His wife, played by Helen Hunt after a time of waiting, followed her friend's advice, moved on and married someone else. Of course he finally found his way home to discover no one was waiting for him. Watching the movie we're trapped between conflicting feelings and emotions. On one hand we understand the wife's hopelessness and need to move on but at the same time we're unsettled by the fact that if she'd only waited a little longer her faith would have been rewarded.

Romans 8:24-25 says,-For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we with patience wait for it.

If you don't know what to do, then do nothing! Wait on the Lord until you're sure what to do. One day, praise God the waiting will be over! Until then, trust God and continue to dwell close to Him and keep believing His promises.


Where would I be today, where would you be, if we had fainted,


If we had not believed…..?

Blessings,


John