Prerequisites of faith

     We often read about, talk about and listen to different focuses on faith and what that faith can do for you.  We have faith in our mechanic who says we need a new part in order for the car to be safe.  We have faith in our educators who teach young and old alike information deemed valuable enough to carry with us through life.  We even have faith in medical personnel and facilities who care for a myriad of ailments and accidents.  So, when we talk about having faith in God we hit the wall.  That which is tangible (first examples) creates more faith than that which is not (God).  Though some would argue that God is tangible.  I won't belabor the point as it has nothing to do with what I am writing about today.  Do you have faith that I will pen this blog from a Scriptural perspective designed to help you (and I) live a better Christian life?
     I'm not sure about the rest of society but my experience is that mechanics, educators, medical personnel and so many other examples have and will fail you at some time.  It's not that they "have to" fail you; it's just that we set them up to fail us.  Our society is such that we are raised (most) to trust those whom we receive services from.  Our mailmen and women bring us the mail.  Plumbers fix this or that to ease our lives.  Windows get replaced when a baseball goes through them.  You get the idea.  We have an expectation that people will do what they are supposed to do.  So, when we or a person near us has a negative experience, we begin to question the profession and get information on who is capable to do the best job.  We truck our kids across cities to get them into the best schools.  Who doesn't want great educated kids to grow up, earn a good living and take care of us when we get old?  Expectations tend to rise as we have negative experiences.  An unnecessary repair expense lowers our belief in that mechanic.  So, next time we go there with more instructions and questions meant to switch the negative to a positive.  Belief is built and destroyed on the backs of well intentioned providers who either care or they don't.
     The travesty is found when we place this expectation on God.  "If there were a God why would he let little children suffer?"  "If God loves my grandmother, why did he let her die such a terrible death?"  You get the point.  We treat the God we are to have faith in like we do the mechanic, doctor, teacher who has repeatedly failed us.  We come to encounter the concept of faith with a tainted mind and heart.  We have walls up that prevent us from looking at the rest of the picture.  So, our God then must be someone who will fail us just as man does.  The story is told of the man (or woman) who was hiking up the side of a mountain.  It was in the dense fog that he slips and falls over the edge.  On the way down he was able to grab a scrub tree protruding from the wall of rock.  After realizing he has stopped falling he begins yelling, "Help me!"  "Someone help me!"  He hears a voice say to him, "I will help you."  "Just let go."  To which the climber says, "Is there anyone else out there?!" 
     The prerequisite of faith is need.  We have so many instances when our faith comes to play with our "wants" when in reality the prerequisite of faith is "need."  I want my car to run well, my teacher to do what they are trained to do and the medical staff to carry on their work with ethics and skill.  We want so much from so many that we begin to look at God with the "I want..." mentality.  Our wants are built on "OUR" perceptions and not on God's wisdom and knowledge.  Despite the understanding that God is perhaps who he says he is, did what he said he did, and will do what he says he will do, we would rather develop faith in our wants.  How crazy is that?  With God, we come with those needs that bring us to the basic elements of life.  How one sees their life is the precursor to understanding the need for God.  For the content and complacent the need isn't great.  For the hurting and engaging the need is great.  When the need overcomes us we know that there is a place where with faith we can receive the help our needs demand.  Even if we don't agree with the answer, we know there will be an answer.  Faith is what brings reality to the foot of the cross.  We are lost in our wants when we need to be found in our needs.