Deuteronomy 30:1-10 John 16:17-24

Have you ever thought about decisions and whether there is anything decided with pure motivation? Do we make decisions almost always with some aspect or some degree of uncertainty? Frequently, the more important a decision is, the more difficult it is to make. The more data we collect, the more uncertainty there is. At some point we simply have to say, I've collected enough data. I know all I'm going to know about this so I'm going to make a decision. Then I'm going to live with the consequences. Fortunately, most things in life are such that when we live with the consequences and they don't turn out the way we had hoped or thought that they would, we can do something and make another decision, change and get a different result. But as we look at faith, we are very much aware that faith is decisional and there is even room for uncertainty with our faith.

Look at Biblical characters throughout the 2000 year history of the Bible. We can certainly see that many of them had doubts but they acted even in their doubt. Abraham for example was challenged by God in two major ways. One was that God told him that he was going to have a child when he was 80 years old. He had to think, “There isn't any way. Sarah is of this age. There is no way we are going to have a child.” So he had uncertainty about that. But sure enough, Sarah got pregnant and they had a child. Then Abraham was also confronted. God said to him, “Pick up everything you have and move.” He didn't really tell him where he was going or what it would be like when he got there. “But I have land prepared for you.” Abraham in his uncertainty trusted God and went ahead and did what God commanded of him even though he was filled with doubt.

Think about the Noah story. God said, “You are to build an ark. It is going to rain for 40 days and 40 nights. You've got to build a huge boat.” All the people derided him. Everyone made fun of him saying he was a fool. As the sun was shining and he was building this enormous boat, do you think that he had some doubts? He was human. He believed in the Word of God and God spoke to him directly, but don't you imagine that he also at times waivered and had some uncertainty? He maybe even said prayers like, “Boy, you better make this happen, God, because if you don't, I'm really going to look foolish.” Of course, God came through and made the flood.

There are other instances - the instance that was read in the Gospel this morning of the disciples when Jesus said, “I'm leaving and I'm going to prepare a place for you and I will return.” The disciples had no idea what this was all about. “What do you mean you are going to die? Aren't you the Messiah? We've been trying to believe that. But now you are telling us that you are going to die and you're going to disappear but it is not over.” You can just imagine. They must have had some tremendous uncertainty about all of this. “What the heck is Jesus talking about and how do we believe him?” Some of them still were holding out for a warrior Messiah. They wondered if His time for that was coming. But Jesus wasn't giving any hint of that. They had to have some doubts. After Jesus' resurrection, we have the example of Thomas. Poor Thomas. Thomas got labeled “the doubter” for all time, when actually he was probably like most of us. He only showed up a week late as you recall how it goes. Jesus appeared to the disciples and Thomas wasn't there. So when the disciples said, “Jesus is alive. He rose from the dead,” Thomas had doubts. We would be hard pressed to think any other way back in that time. Wouldn't we doubt, too? We would say, “Yea, you guys are nuts. What do you mean Jesus rose from the dead? I'm not going to believe it unless I can put my fingers into His wounds  his hands and his side.” Sure enough, when Jesus returned to the Upper Room, He made Thomas do just that. So then Thomas believed. But it wasn't originally belief without doubt. “Blessed are those who believe and haven't seen,” Jesus said. Can we do that without some doubt creeping in? Thankfully God doesn't require perfect doubt-free belief. He allows us to grow in the strength of our faith.

There are many things that we have in this life where doubt is a part of it. Every time you come to a traffic light, don't you sometimes doubt whether the other guy is going to stop? Some people race up to a red light and then jam on their brake at the last minute. You think, “Do I go through or not?” We act on doubts and uncertainty frequently. God requires us to step out with faith.

Today we celebrate the 4th of July (Independence Day) where the United States declared Independence from Great Britain 233 years ago. Do you imagine the framers of our constitution, the authors of our bill of rights and those who wrote the Declaration of Independence did it with absolutely certainty? Did they believe without a doubt that things would work out right, a nation would be formed and it would all go well? I doubt that. I doubt that they had total certainty about the success of all that. As we now look at our country as to how it has developed, we come to realize some things. The sins of our country, at least in my lifetime, are the sins of greed, the sexualization of everything, and idolatry. Those seem to be the big three sins of our country. Look at all this fuss they are making over Michael Jackson who was a pop singer. If Jesus could get the acclamation that Michael Jackson gets, the whole world would be changed instantly, wouldn't it? Nobody really cared about Michael Jackson after his trials until after he died. Most people were saying, “OK. He's a has-been and probably a pedophile,” and ignored him. Then all of a sudden at his death, he's an idol for many many people. Where is God in all of this? Where is our faith in all of this? It is interesting. The framers of our country were really Biblically based. They based the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights on Biblical principles. Our country has now become so relativistic that those things are really being ignored in many ways. Biblical law, Biblical social order and Biblical moral code were really foundational for our country. We need to return to those principles. In the scripture that Bob Sprague read this morning in Deuteronomy, we discover that if law is kept, then God looks upon a country with favor. That is how He assured the Israelites. The prophet Jeremiah said this, which our country would be wise to listen to. God said through Jeremiah, “I will bring health and healing to the country. I will heal my people. I will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” “&Here is what I will do for it. I will bring all good things and the people will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide.” But what does it take? It takes returning to God, not perfectly, not without doubt or uncertainty, but returning to God in faith  through a leap of faith. That is hard. Faith is a matter of letting go and trusting in God. That is really all we have in life. Yes, we do it with uncertainty. But we also do it with conviction in our uncertainty. That is a paradox, but it is what God requires.