Facts. Our lives are influenced by them. We absorb them from childhood, from the trivial facts that make up quiz shows to the historical facts which shape our world to the scientific facts which inform our thinking. They are there: solid, verifiable, reassuring, terrifying.
The word ‘fact’ comes from the Latin ‘factum’, which means ‘a thing done or performed’. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable experiments. As people, we tend to like facts. They are solid, dependable, reliable (even when they are telling us things we’d rather not know…)
Facts rely on the visible and tell us part of a story. They tell us the easy part, actually: the things that have already happened. They are not, however, the whole story.
Facts tell us we have £x in our bank account. They do not tell us what God can do with £x compared to what we can do with it. Facts tell us things about what is happening in our bodies. They do not tell us how God can work miracles in our bodies. Facts tell us our achievement (or lack of it) in a certain test on a given date. They do not tell us what we can achieve later on if we persevere or how God can help us. Facts are usually extremely persuasive because they are true and we like to think we live by the truth, but they cannot be allowed to determine our response to God.
Eugene Peterson, when talking about the excuses we often give God when called and challenged by Him, says ‘the excuses we make are plausible, often they are statements of fact, but they are excuses all the same and are disallowed by our Lord.’ (‘Run With the Horses’, P 51) Just because something is a statement of fact does not, ironically, make it true as far as God is concerned.
When Moses sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land, he received differing reports. The facts of the report were indisputable: a land flowing with milk and honey, inhabited by powerful people, with fortified cities. (Numbers 13:28) However, the difference between the ten spies who were afraid and whose report sowed fear into people’s hearts and the two spies who urged action because of God’s presence was how faith informed the facts. Hebrews 4:2 tells us ‘we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.‘ Some versions say ‘those who heard the message did not combine it with faith.’ Faith is the key element in interpreting facts. The ten spies who were fearful saw only the giants and their interpretation focussed on their inadequacy: ‘we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them.’ (Num 13:32-33) Caleb, on the other hand, acknowledged God’s help could make all the difference. (Num 13:31) Who of us remembers the names of the ten spies? Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel are now forgotten, though they were all leaders of their tribes. They never entered the Promised Land. Caleb and Joshua, on the other hand, are heroes of faith who went in and possessed the land.
If we want to please God, we have to live by faith. (Heb 11:6) The truth of facts is not enough for us to live by. Instead, ‘it doesn’t matter what I see.’ (Aaron Shust, ‘Deliver Me’) We have to listen to what God says and obey Him. All His promises are true. What He has promised, He is faithful to fulfil. We need to hear the message and combine it with faith so that we do not miss out on all God has for us.