When Faith Isn't Really Faith

I came across a sentence in my devotional reading this morning that caused me to stop and think about my faith in a new light.  Allow me to share with you this sentence from Beth Moore's book, Whispers of Hope:  "Our faith must rest on God's identity, not His activity."

When I think back to the blessings I've received over the past week, I realize that my "faith" has not been resting on God's identity but rather on the activity that I've seen Him performing in my life.  Last week, He provided the firewood and just yesterday, He took a doctor's bill that should have been near $200 and reduced it to $30.  With blessing after blessing, I find myself on a spiritual high, but after reading that sentence this morning, I am left with no choice but to ask myself a few questions.

Has God changed over the past couple of weeks?
Is God still good when it doesn't seem like He's answering my prayers?
What exactly is it that makes God God in my life?
Isn't God still worthy of my praise on the days when everything seems to be falling apart?

You see, by allowing my faith to rest solely on what God is doing rather than who He is, I have set myself up for the mother of all roller coasters.  When things are going well, my faith in God is strong, but when life is not so kind, I have the tendency to believe that God isn't either.  I have set myself up for disappointment, frustration and, above all, doubt.

How can I believe God is good when it doesn't seem like He's working on my behalf?  How can I trust His promises when I don't see Him at work?  If my faith is resting solely in God's activity, I can't.  That's why it's important to make sure our faith is in the right thing.  Yes, the Bible is full of accounts where God met the needs of His people, and it's important that we know and cling to these accounts as proof of God's provision.  But proof isn't faith, is it?  According to Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  If we're seeing it, it's not faith; it's fact.

Faith is believing that God is good even when life isn't.  Faith is knowing that God is a loving Father even in the times we feel forsaken.  Faith is choosing to believe that God is working on our behalf even when there is no evidence to support it.  Faith is trusting God to be God and leaving the results up to Him.

So I ask you, in what or Whom have you placed your trust?