Not by sight, but by Faith!

Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Human brain thinks and reacts based on the inputs received by our physical senses. But Faith is something totally opposed to what we see, what we hear and what we know in our minds. When God's promises talk about how wonderful our life is going to be, the mind begins its calculation and tries to find all possibilities that could lead us to that blessing! If God leads us through the HOLY Spirit via some other path that is not configured in our mental "maps" to the blessing, we begin to doubt God and try to give HIM our own advice.

God, through Moses, led the Israelites, as they broke from the yoke of slavery and began their journey towards Canaan. Our wise Israelites already had a map in their minds - the map from Egypt to Canaan. But, when God commanded Moses to take a different route where the Israelites would have to come across the Red sea, then began the trouble for the Israelites who used their brains. In the natural, it really was an utter foolish thought to take the route via the Red sea, since they had no boats or any other transport mechanism by which they could cross over. Many began to doubt God since GOD'S route was totally contradictory to their own mental maps. This is what we do when we sometimes try to figure out that “certain things” or “certain ways” are the only possibilities by which we can reach where God has promised to take us. For example, we believe that God should've given us a better college, a better job, a better salary, a better life companion, a better family background, a better boss and etc., if HE really intends to bring us to the fullness of HIS blessing. "That", we think is the only route to blessing that God has promised!

         Back to the story of Israelites, we see that when they were camping next to the Red sea, they seemed to be just fine. But when they heard  (a physical sense) the thunder of Pharaoh's horses, their minds started saying, "See, didn't I cleverly predict that this is simply not the correct route to Canaan?". When Moses tried to strengthen their faith saying, "Ten times you have seen the wonders of God, and still you don't believe?", some would've begun to trust God (except the ones who used their brains) and awaited a miracle. Moses then stretches out his rod against the sea and miraculously, the sea parts and the people walked in the seabed between the walls of sea! There would've been great shouts of praise and singing, even those who first doubted, would've been enthralled by what they saw and would've burst out in praise to God! Now comes another twist to the story. They almost crossed the sea and they saw  (Another physical sense) that the Pharaoh’s chariots were racing just behind them! The “brain-users” would've started their chorus "Crossed the Red sea - great! But see the chariots? Did I not tell you that this is just not the right route? Problems after problems! Now we are sure to die in the wilderness!!". In the natural, by what they saw, it was a right argument. But if God chose that route, our faith (Which is the trust in God and HIS unfailing Words), will always believe that God has already devised a way out of the problem we see, the problem we hear and the problem we know. But the brain, on the contrary, advises God that we have taken the wrong route - by what we see, by what we hear and by what we know. The story of the Red sea goes again like this. The seawaters covered the chariots and the Egyptians drowned in the sea! Another great miracle!! At least by now, the brain users would've lost their arguments and would've praised God for HIS wonders. The Israelites knew in their brains that the route was wrong, heard and saw the chariots, which made them feel more confident about the correctness of their arguments - But in the end, the route that God chose was the perfect one because otherwise they would've died under Pharaoh's chariots! (Could our limited mind know all this??? Can we, afford to live by sight then?? Definitely a BIG NO!!!). The point here is: If we go by what we think, what we know, what we see or what we hear, we do not trust God and we miss out on God’s BEST and may even perish by the impending dangers that Satan has kept for us! On the other hand, Faith is opposite to what to see. Let us trust God and HIS promises no matter what our senses see(our circumstances might look completely discouraging), feel (our feelings of fear for the negative), and hear(bad news constantly from 24/7 news channels that our economy is going from bad to worse, that our security in this cruel world is at stake) and soon enough, we will see the wonders of HIS hands. Faith has these opponents - our feelings, our sight and our hearing. We need to fight these physical senses and overcome them to trust God 100 percent. One of my favorite verses “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding”