God Speaking

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”.”

(Matthew 14: 31)

Last week I read a very deep and thoughtful blog written by a Christian, in which the author boldly and honestly shared the agony she was going through as doubt about her faith was flooding her whole being.  The response she received in comments was amazing, as believers rallied around her with their also honest stories, with prayers, Bible verses, lovely encouraging words of hope.  As I reread her words, I was struck by her bravery in sharing a weakness that a lot of us try to hide from others and I was reminded that the Psalmists were also very brave in writing about their struggles when they felt God had forgotten them or perhaps wasn’t even there.

“Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” (Psalm 77: 8 – 9)

Being honest in front of God is a great way of dealing with doubt and the result of this honesty is the Psalmist regaining his great trust in God even before the Psalm finishes, as he remembers the deeds and miracles he has already witnessed;

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; Yes, I will remember your miracles long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77: 11 – 12)

Sometimes we begin to have doubts about our selves and a feeling of unworthiness can envelope us as we begin to focus on our shortcomings and find it hard to believe that our Heavenly Father could even love us at all. Again, being honest about our feelings before the Heavenly Father, can bring a rush of reassurances from him and as the writer of Hebrews tells us, we can approach him confidently so we can be bathed in grace and mercy;

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4: 16)

Jesus assures us that faith is not measured by size, like the world measures wealth, status, or power, in fact he tells the disciples that faith as small as a mustard seed could have the power to move mountains.

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17: 20)

A simple statement, I BELIEVE will move a mountain of doubt. And even if we begin to doubt, the Lord will catch us in his arms just as he did for Peter. (Matthew 14: 31)