One of my heroes of faith has always been my grandmother. Every time we talk she shares with me stories of how God has moved in her life and how she has seen God do countless miracles time and time again. When I think about our season of increasing our faith, I think about what it took for my grandmother to increase her faith in God.
I remember my grandmother telling me a story of when she was invited to see one of the kings in the land. It was tradition and cultural expectation to bow before the king when you are in their presence. When my grandmother went to see the king, she refused to bow to the king. Another lady that accompanied her couldn’t believe what was happening and thought she was asking for a death wish. Surprisingly, nothing happened to my grandmother that day. When her friend asked her what she was thinking, not bowing to the king, my grandmother responded, “I only bow to God.”
When I heard it for the first time, I thought it was something out of a movie. This was like Daniel in the Bible refusing to bow to the king. I didn’t really understand how bold and audacious my grandmother was at the time. I thought maybe because she is old she has nothing to lose but that wasn’t really true. She was running an orphanage with 30+ children at the age of 81. Then I remembered another story that she told me.
She shared with me a time where she remembers opening the fridge and seeing only enough food to feed the children and workers for that day. She told me that she went on her knees to pray to God that night for Him to provide food for them and went to bed. The next morning she received a call from an anonymous donor who wanted to give them 10 bags of rice.
What are the odds?! God had provided more than enough food for the children and workers the next day. What was equally amazing was my grandmother’s response to not having enough food for tomorrow. She didn’t call a friend or someone to find out whether they had spare food to donate to the orphanage. She didn’t even send out workers to go to the bank and take out a loan to go buy food for the children and workers in the meantime. She chose to get on her knees and turn to the God she loves and trusts to make a way. God was her first and last response to a crisis.
It finally clicked with me how she could refuse to bow to an earthly king. It was because she knew the king above all kings. It was clear to me that she had a personal relationship with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Her faith wasn’t built on just some story she read in the Bible but it was a reality she lived by walking closely to her God. She was utterly dependent on Jesus and her actions spoke for themselves. It was as if she knew that the same God who saved the people of Israel could be the same God who would save her. My grandmother had countless stories of how God showed up in both good and bad situations. It is no wonder why she refused to bow to an earthly king. Her fear of the Lord was stronger than her fear of man. She really put her trust in the Lord.
The scripture tells us:
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
Father, we thank you that you are a God who saves. Help us to truly trust in you. May our first response to any challenge we face be to seek your face. May we be a people who fears you more than we fear man. We pray this all in your mighty name, Jesus. Amen!