Trust & Unbelief

Let’s face it, sometimes it's difficult to trust that God will work everything out in the end, right? Or maybe that’s just something that I’ve struggled with. The truth is that it's easy to trust God with a nice padded savings account, all your bills paid and a secure well-paying job, but what happens when the stability of any one of those variables is tested? Where does our focus go nine times out of ten? It generally shifts away from God and we begin frantically looking for ways that WE can fix it and make things work. I am so guilty of this and not just a long time ago but even recently.

Even as I write this in my heart I yearn to trust God but the humanity within me struggles to let go and fully trust in God. Why? I honestly can’t tell you a definitive reason why but what I can do is just cry out to God and be honest with him. It’s not a sin to have doubts but we do need to bring them before God and allow Him to change our hearts. As I prayed I was prompted to God's word and was led to the Gospel of Mark.

In the Gospel of Mark (9:14-29) there was a man who had a demon possessed boy. He brought his son to the disciples to have the evil spirit removed but they couldn’t do it. Now let's just stop for a moment and imagine the man’s thoughts or state of mind after the disciples were unable to help; I mean here is his child that has been in this state for sometime (since childhood) and now the disciples of Jesus couldn’t do a thing to help. I myself would begin to doubt if there was any hope for my child if I were that man. In verse 17 we pick up the story where the man is now asking Jesus

himself to save his son and remove this evil spirit from him and the man in all his weariness asks Jesus, “If you can do anything have pity on us an help us.” Jesus answers this with a profound truth that we today must learn and walk out Jesus says, “If I can…? Everything is possible for him who believes.” The man still struggling with putting all his faith into the hands of Jesus responds with a statement that so perfectly shows our own humanity the man says, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”

This is where I am today, I do believe Lord, but help my unbelief. You see although I can’t quite see over the horizon or know what tomorrow will bring I don’t need to worry about that. Ultimately God is in control and he will work all things together for God (Romans 8:28), regardless of my short-comings. I just need to handle what I can handle and believe that absolutely everything is possible with God regardless of what the facts and circumstances might say. 

Take Care & God Bless,

-E