Can Faith be a Useful Displacement Strategy?
By Jeannie Pace
Displacement. In the current news we hear about people being displaced because of war or a natural disaster. Perhaps you recently rearranged something in the house. Furniture was moved from its place to a new position. Another common place to observe displacement is a bathtub. Like the ancient mathematician Archimedes discovered, the more a body sinks into the water, the more water is displaced. We hear of someone with displaced anger. That person is unable to express anger directly at the cause. The anger becomes displaced towards someone or something that is not related to the original conflict. An accident can cause someone to have a displaced rib.
The examples above provide a definition for displacement. The word implies there has been a change in position. An object has been moved or displaced.
A more precise definition of displacement is provided in the study of physics. Simply stated, physics is the study of how matter moves. Physics seeks to be precise when describing the motion of an object. If you have taken a physics course, you probably remember the first few chapters of the textbook were devoted to describing motion.
Displacement is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point. Should this be the final position of a line? I’m no mathematician, though. It quantifies both the distance and direction of an imaginary motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position. The illustration clarifies the definition.
Notice that displacement is not the same measurement as distance. There are two ways in which the term distance is used in physics. We can talk about the distance between two points, or we can talk about the distance traveled by an object.
For example, I rearrange the living room. Eventually the couch moves from point a to point b – a displacement of 12 feet. However, the couch traveled many more feet as I crisscrossed the room trying the couch in various positions. Distance traveled is the total length of the path traveled between the two points.
How can the concept of displacement help my faith be successful during a time of testing and during a time when God’s promises do not appear to resolve the crisis? As we journey with God on our pilgrimage of life, can faith be used as a displacement tool in our decision making? If I elevate God’s covenant and promises through the phases of my faith, can a conflict be resolved quicker?
What will be important to remember is that displacement is not always equal to the distance traveled.
Let’s camp out in the wilderness with the nation of Israel for a few moments. Generations earlier, the Hebrew patriarch, Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) arrives in Egypt from the land of Canaan (Genesis 46.) Through divine intervention, Jacob’s son, Joseph, has been appointed second in command under Pharaoh. Pharaoh grants the land of Goshen to Joseph’s arriving family for homes and maintaining their livestock. Joseph, his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt for three generations before Joseph dies (Genesis 50:22.)
The descendants of these Israelites have many children and grandchildren. They multiply so greatly that they became extremely powerful and populated the land (Exodus 1.) Eventually a new king came to power who was unaware of Joseph’s contributions to preserving Egypt during a time of famine. The Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves, appointed brutal supervisors over them while forcing them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.
The work demands became so ruthless and brutal that the Hebrews cried to God for rescue. God heard and appointed Moses to lead the millions of Israelites out of Egypt to a land God promised them. (Exodus 3:9-10) The new territory was fertile and would support the many families and their flocks.
God knew that a mighty king of Egypt would not easily release his work force so He performed many miracles against the Egyptians until the host country sent the Hebrews off with gifts of silver, gold and fine clothing. After 430 years (Exodus 12:40) the Hebrews left with fists raised in defiance and so well-equipped they were described as “an army ready for battle” (Exodus 14: 8 and 13:18.)
After due consideration Pharaoh changed his mind and asked his officials, “What have we done letting all those Israelites get away?” Pharaoh harnessed more than 600 chariots, called up his troops and pursued the nation of Israel.
The Hebrews miraculously escaped through the Red Sea while the Egyptians sank like lead in the mighty waters (Exodus 15:10) The journey from Egypt to the promised land of Israel began.
I asked my engineer dad to calculate the time this journey could have taken the Hebrews. He stated certain parameters and concluded the trip could realistically have taken about 40 days to complete. (I was delighted with this answer because the number 40 is a theme in Scripture.) Others have estimated that it may have been possible that Moses in the lead could have seen the promised land of Canaan about the time the last Hebrew was leaving. However, because they did not believe God or trust HIM to take care of them (Psalm 78: 22), because of their faithlessness and rebellion, the journey took 40 YEARS! (Deuteronomy 2:7) Psalm 78 provides a profile of their faith contradicting God’s covenant promises.
The journey could have been the displacement distance.
Instead, the journey looked similar to this cartoon:
Distance
traveled
How could applied faith in God’s provision have helped the nation? Faith could have displaced fear and rebellion during a time of panic when God’s promises did not appear to be sufficient. The nation could have remembered and spoke about previous divine supply since God had always been with them in Egypt. The most recent miraculous escape from bondage was evidence of God’s power to determine an outcome. Faith could have kept the Israelites from being ‘undependable as a crooked bow” (Psalm 78:57.)
The Israelites rebelled against God even though they heard HIS voice. Because of this they missed out on resting in the promised land. They did not combine what they knew about God with faith. If we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fail, too (Hebrews 4: 2 and 11.)
Remember that displacement does not have to equal the distance traveled. God operates in His time and is the one who determines outcomes, but can our spiritual gift of faith be utilized as a displacement tool? Can faith move us toward God’s resolution quicker and more directly?
Consider this call to trust the Lord found in Isaiah 8:11ff
“The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe….
Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
I will wait for the Lord…
I will put my hope in him….
Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair.”
Contradicting (denying the truth and evidence of) God’s promises caused the ancient people to miss out on God’s provision. They wandered weary and hungry and the hunger spiraled their speech and behavior downward, but this sequence did not have to happen. The people could have had a glorious displacement by elevating God’s promises over their circumstances.
The New Testament book of Hebrews describes what faith looks like. In chapter 11 there are numerous examples of people who centered their experiences on the confidence in God’s word. Faith was the structure they used to deal with God first and directly in order to resist manipulating the mechanics of impossible- looking circumstances.
The Scripture reveals to us that faith has a substance. That substance is divine and spills into my mind by the power of God’s revelation that we find in Scripture. Thus, I have a right to be confident in what God promises.
The Hebrew nation had a choice in their language and how they would represent God’s provision. They used faithless language when they complained God must have led them out of Egypt into the hands of their enemies because HE must hate them (Deuteronomy 1:26-28.) Their faithless language guided their actions and wrongly represented God. “They stubbornly tested God in their hearts…They even spoke against God himself, saying, ‘God can’t give us food in the wilderness’” (Psalm 78:18-19.) The result of their slander was that God promised, ‘I will give the land to your little ones – your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it” (Deuteronomy 1:39.)
Theirs would be a different story had they represented God accurately with their language. God had promised to go first and fight for them. They could have spoken of their recent miraculous rescue out of Egypt. They could have expressed the history they had of God providing and caring for them as they traveled because they always had food, water, and protection from illnesses. They could have looked down at their feet and recalled that their leather sandals never wore out. They should have encouraged each other with their previous experiences that God had provided protection and guidance using a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. Rescue was always provided – always – and always provided by God.
By implementing faith, the nation would have entered the promised land in the shortest distance and by the most direct travel (displacement vector.) It seems that their obedience and successful faith would have displaced their journey and eliminated the 40 years of wandering.
How does Israel’s story help us today?
Spiritual faith is transferred from the unseen reality to our tangible reality so we can displace fear, doubt, rebellion and worries of this earthly life with God’s promises. In a period of crisis, remember to elevate God’s promises over the contradicting circumstances and events in your life. This is done by studying the Scriptures, being mentored, and praying for wisdom and waiting for the rescue only God can provide.
Jesus said you don’t even need a lot of faith. Jesus said that just a little amount of faith can move mountains. In other words just small faith can leverage God’s actions in your life and in the lives of those around you (Matthew 17:20; and 1 Corinthians 13:2.)
Jesus said our faith can be compared to a mustard seed. What’s interesting is that a mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. But it is a seed. A seed is worth more when it continues to grow. You water and feed the seed of your faith by giving it nourishment. We get nourishment by studying God’s Word; worshipping together and praying. God is not indifferent to a lack of faith. It is vital that we feed the seed of faith in our life (Matthew 17:20.)
Another physics concept can be applied to our spiritual life. The law states that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. A life full of scripture and prayer does not have room for fear and faithless chatter (James 1:6-7.) The two cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
Yes, faithful reasoning can and must be used to displace disobedience, fear manipulating circumstances, and worries. With faith it is possible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) because we trust the certainty of His character, wait on His rescue and His perfect outcome.
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