Faith's Influence

So Moses brought their case before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives and give their father's inheritance to them.

Numbers 27:5-7

Moses brought Zelophehad's daughters' case before the Lord, and the Lord told him they were right. Later this became for Israel a statute and ordinance. Not only did these five girls receive the inheritance of their father, but their act of faith formed the basis of a new law. When I was a boy back home on a ranch in Montana, we used to have a great big red can of baking powder on the shelf, and the can was labeled as double acting baking powder. Faith is like that. Faith not only acts upon us, but faith stimulates others as well. What our act of faith has accomplished for us becomes an open door for others to follow after.

The amazing thing about this activity of these girls is that centuries later, this act of faith established the principle which made possible the right of Jesus Christ to the throne of David through his mother Mary. Luke tells us that Jesus was commonly supposed to be the son of Joseph, though those on the inside of the story knew that He was not the son of Joseph. As His sonship with Joseph was generally accepted, it became the basis for His legal right to the throne of David. But had that right been challenged, He would still have had a right to the throne of David through His mother, Mary, on the basis of this law established by the daughters of Zelophehad. For all the rights and prerogatives of the house of David came to Mary on the basis of this principle established in Israel.

This is always the dynamic of faith. Others are stirred to new endeavors when we step out in faith. Remember Paul, writing to the Philippians, said that though he was in prison, chained to a Roman guard day and night, Others have been made more bold by my imprisonment to preach the gospel throughout the city. As they saw his faith exercised in the midst of those discouraging circumstances, their own faith was strengthened and they went to work. The result was that the gospel flourished throughout the city of Rome while Christians were being persecuted.

Who knows what God is going to do when small steps of faith are taken? God is calling us to live by faith, and all through the Scriptures we see that when we venture out upon some promise of God, we claim what God has offered to us in Christ. The most tentative effort in this direction can open a door that will grow into glorious possibilities. This is the dynamic of faith. Who knows what God will bring into your life if you open your home, you try a new approach to an old problem, you give up an old habit, you step out in faith? You come before God and say, Lord, I have found this in your word. It is not a part of my life now, but by Your grace, I claim this. I want this. This is God's way of changing human history.

Lord, as I step out in faith I ask that others will be strengthened in their own faith, and together we will see the glorious possibilities you have in store for us.