Pulpit Series Volume 17 Issue 5 02/18/2007
I had fainted, unless I had believed. Psalm 27: 13
This guy’s knees had gone weak, his world had grown black about him… he had been at the point of fainting. Perhaps more than once! However, there was one thing he hung onto, one thing he leaned on, and that one thing was his belief. His faith.
Have you ever fainted? I have. The moment before I fainted I was, to all appearances, an eager and interested best man. I was supporting my friend Jake in his wedding, here I was making a gesture of support. But as soon as I fainted all that was over. By my fainting, I not only ceased to be an asset, I became a liability.
For every one who faints physically there are thousands who faint spiritually. Once they could be counted on to be in their places at every service. But that has passed. The fires of their enthusiasm have gone out. They’ve lost interest. Now no longer a help they become a hindrance.
They’ve fainted - no longer participating - adding nothing.
Had you and I been present when that famous race between the hare and the tortoise was run, who of us would have staked anything on the slow-footed tortoise? But it was he that won, not because of his fleetness of foot, but because of his staying powers.
Much of Thomas Edison's success is no doubt due to his keenness of intellect, but to his ability to hang on to his dream with Bulldog tenacity, until his dream became a reality.
If lack of opportunity and lack of ability have slain thousands, fainting has slain its tens of thousands. I pray that one day we will have the same quality of belief that was found in Abraham. This man never gave up, he never once believed that God was going to let him down. He staggered not at the promises Romans 4:20
And refusing to faint, he at last realized his dream.
God sometimes allows us to enter into discouraging situations for the primary purpose of testing our faith. At such times we must refuse to give up in despair. Like Jonah in the belly of the great fish, we must turn to the Lord when our soul is fainting within us, trusting Him completely.
What can you do when you are about to faint physically?
Nothing! Nada! You can’t do anything!
In your weakness you just fall upon the shoulders of some strong loved one, lean hard, resting until your strength returns. The same is true when you are tempted to faint under adversity. The Lord’s message to us is Be still, and know that I am God? Psalm 46:10
Some of the causes of fainting:
A bad atmosphere. This causes us to faint physically. Even more often it causes us to faint spiritually. In fact, I doubt if we have ever rightly estimated the power for good or evil of a right or wrong atmosphere.
There are atmospheres created by the individual and by the group that give hope and help.
Peter created such an atmosphere, according to The Acts, that his very shadow had healing in it Acts 5:15
There are also churches like that. The people are friendly, reverent, and worshipful. They seem possessed of good tidings. To enter such a service is to be made to say: Surely God is in this place Genesis 28:16
To be a part of such a congregation is to be enriched. The Gathering Place has members in it who by their prayers and sympathy lifted me on eagle wings. But there are churches whose congregation create an atmosphere that chills like an east wind, biting like a killing frost.
I’ve left there feeling as if I never wanted to preach again.
Beware of negative atmosphere…
· After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
· An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”
· Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress.
· Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
· Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
We faint from weakness. Sometimes our weakness is natural. Sometimes it is the result of utter weariness.
There is a weakness born of hunger. Many saints have fainted for this same reason. They have forgotten that their spiritual needs are just as pressing as the physical.
It was the realization of this that enabled Mr. Stedfast to win where so many others have failed. His Word, he declares, did I use to gather as an antidote against my fainting Pilgrim's Progress
Others, faint from chastisement. The writer of the Hebrews was facing this fact when he said, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him Hebrews 12:5
Others faint because of discouragement. (I believe this to be #1)
A number of years ago during a “Smoke House” evolution I was instruction for the fire department, we had several incidents of fainting. One fellow in a state of confusion and panic (although in a safe environment) ripped his protective mask from his face. He was literally inches from the door that led to safety. Had it been a real fire, he would of died. Fear overtook him. He fainted, in part, from loss of hope.
Another fellow in the same type of scenario found himself in a corner and simply gave up… curling up into a fetal position he stopped trying to find the way out …. discouragement overcame him. He fainted, in part, from loss of hope.
There is the number one reason multitudes who undertake the Christian life fail. They struggle and struggle, till at last they allow themselves to become convinced that they are failures. They become discouraged and faint. However, in spite of all the temptations to faint the writer of our text today somehow managed to stand firm. I had fainted, he tells us plainly, unless I had believed. In the face of difficulty he kept believing.
What, did he believe?
He believed in the Church. Psalm 27:4-5 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
In the strength born of this vision, he was able to walk and not be weary, to run and not faint Isaiah 40:31
He believed in prayer. He declares with quiet confidence. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord Psalm 27:14
Jesus said, that men ought always to pray and not to faint Luke 18:1
He believed that God was able to see him through.
Daniel 3:17-18 our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. But if not, know this, O king, we will not serve your gods…
He believed in the final triumph of righteousness.
There is nothing more weakening than the belief that we are fighting for a losing cause. The Apostle Paul tries to strengthen us when he says: let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
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