Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
July 8, 2013 as Doubt
I cried out with no reply
And I can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone
- Never Alone by Barlow Girl
We see through a glass darkly. Sometimes we feel God's tug on our hearts and lives and respond only to encounter soon after a dryness where we can no longer feel much of God in anything or we fall short and question our calling. Sometimes we face a crisis as it feels our life is being blown apart and God is not doing things the way that we want, hope or pray for. That relationship we were praying for healing and restoration in remains strained or completely falls apart despite all our efforts and prayer. That loved one we prayed for remained sick or died. The job we prayed for didn't happen or while trusting God to meet our needs we got laid off and felt the needs pressing in even greater than before. The peace we pursued continued to feel more elusive than grabbing a rainbow. Doubt can, at least temporarily, pin faith to the mat of our inner struggle.
And then with our faith looking weak we begin to be beaten up by condemnation. Our problems are all because we doubted. If we loved God the way we should, we'd never have even a moment of doubt of God's love, care and provision for us. If we had strong enough faith we'd never experience a single setback or disappointment. Bogus statements one and all.
Jesus said we'd face hardships and setbacks. While there is no indication that doubt ever entered into His being and no one could have ever had stronger faith than Jesus, Christ still went from a triumph entry into Jerusalem with everyone shouting His praise to alone in a garden, sweating drops of blood in agony and fear, about to be betrayed and forsaken by those closest to Him facing a horrible and painful death separated from the presence of the Father for the first time ever in less than a week. Never doubting doesn't mean we won't face things that make us feel like God isn't there or that we won't like or understand. And moments of doubt and questions don't mean that we don't believe or that we have failed God.
David was called a man after God's own heart. And yet, many of His psalms have questions about when would God finally step in and help Him. When would God make things right? God didn't strike David down or forsake Him for his doubts and questions but instead showed him that no matter what it may feel like, no matter what it may look like, despite what the world says and our senses tell us, He is there, we are not forsaken, God does love us and care for us and we are indeed safe in His care.
Until we see Him and know Him without any barriers there will be struggles with understanding and with doubt. And that doesn't mean that even as we question, God isn't calling us to serve despite everything. That's why Jesus said we needed faith the size of tiny mustard seed and not a mountain. That's why faith is stepping out when we don't see how God can do things because everything around us says it can't happen. If all our senses said God was there and it was all going to be OK and everything is fine, it wouldn't be faith, it would be trust in our senses and experience. When the disciples gathered before the risen Lord in Matthew 28 verses 16 & 17 tell us, When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. Even in worship, even at the foot of the risen Savior, even as the calling is being given, even surrounded by believers, we might doubt. But a believer is not someone who never doubts. A believer is someone who pursues relationship with God and determines to believe that what God says is true even when doubt and emotions and situations say it isn't. A believer is one who cries Son of David have mercy on me!, even as the voices in our head and around us say shut up, doesn't everything happening show you that He has more important things to do, that He doesn't care about you? Yet we cry all the louder.
Doubt makes the act of continuing in faith all the more powerful, just as fear is what makes acts of courage great. If there were not great fear to overcome then it would not seem courageous to do what needs to be done in spite of that fear. And if there were no reason to question or doubt then stepping out in faith would not give much glory to the One who is faithful when He does what He has promised to do, love and care for us. Don't allow doubt to be a doorway for condemnation. We can pray the prayer of the father with the ill child, Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. Don't beat yourself up over doubt, but determine to stay fixed on Christ regardless, so that when the winds of doubt blow we soar like a kite because we're attached and not scattered as though we have no anchor. Let us use our doubts and questions to bring glory to the One who answers them when we continue to follow after Him, regardless of the doubt rather than have them be a weapon that the enemy can use to separate us from our Father.
This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment