The Thin Line Between Faith and Presumption

There is a line - I think. Somewhere between faith and presumption. When one is no longer standing in faith, but in presumption. I’m not sure where the line starts to blur, but I know it’s there.

For example, I heard a story the other day of someone who had diabetes. They believed that God was going to heal them. They refused any medical treatment at all. They even refused to alter their diet. They simply believed their faith in God was going fix everything.

Now I can’t say that they’re wrong. Maybe, they’re standing in faith? Maybe God will bring about a mighty healing in their lives? But in my flesh, I feel as though they may be standing in presumption. You know, God’s going to take care of it, so it doesn’t matter what we do. We can abuse our bodies, because one day, God’s going to fix it.

Is it faith or is it presumption? I don’t know. You could go to the other extreme and say, “well, God’s not healed yet, so let’s do everything the doctors say.” Is that response a refusal to stand in faith?

The thing is you could apply this question to a million different situations. I’m sure Mary looked as if she was standing in presumption when she believed she would have a child without even knowing a man. I’m sure Abraham stood in presumption when he took matters into his own hands to accomplish God’s will in his life. But yet, God says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as faith? David must have been ridiculed as standing in presumption when he refused to take the crown that was prophesied as his by Samuel long ago. Who would’ve said that the three Hebrew children were standing in faith when they tested God’s ability to rescue them from a firey furnace.

We could go on and on. Impossible stories that to an unbelieving world looked like men were standing in presumption, because they could not comprehend faith.