When I am sitting in a meeting with other believers or worshiping at home after Bible study, there is no doubt or hesitation. "Our God is Mighty! -to the pulling down of strongholds! -to heal the broken hearted! -to save and heal the oppressed! -to heal our every sickness and disease! There is nothing too hard for God!" But when I am standing in the hospital beside the bed of a dear friend or their child, my heart breaks. Sometimes righteous anger arises and I declare God's will to heal, save and deliver. But there are times when it isn't that simple. It isn't that I don't think God can or wants to heal in that case. Is it because my faith is weak? Or is it because I am reasoning why this has occurred?
I am continually taken back to the days of the disciples walking with Jesus, listening to his stories and examples that were meant to reveal to them the heart of God in very practical ways. He used everyday situations to show them how to respond in faith to any situation. We are familiar with most of these stories if we have sat in a pew or Bible studies for even a few years. Jesus only taught his disciples for three years. Yet they so embraced His emphasis on the scriptures that they dedicated their lives to the message--the Good News of the Messiah--that Jesus taught from them.
It distresses me that there are believers who do not read their Bibles--some have never read the entire Bible. Yet these same people expect God to speak to them and teach them through every situation--"working all things together for their good and for His glory". Yes, God is faithful and He will do that, but how can they listen if they don't know His voice and don't understand His language? How can we expect our faith to withstand the tests in this difficult day and hour if we don't know what we believe? What do we believe?
I think of Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on the water during a storm. Picture this: It is the middle of the night and the disciples find themselves in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when a treacherous storm begins to whip up. They knew their lives were in great danger. They also knew Jesus was left behind on the far shore with no knowledge of their peril. They must have felt fear and abandonment--all that they had given their lives since they met him would end when the boat capsized. Surely that was about to happen. They had just witness Jesus miraculously feeding the five-thousand men--plus women and children. But they also knew that John the Baptist had recently been beheaded. These men had every reason to doubt--their faith may not have been big enough to continue to trust God, not even through that one storm. (Matthew 14)In the midst of their fear and doubt they see Jesus walking on the water. It is no wonder they thought he was a ghost! Jesus tells them to take courage--he is there with them. He was letting them know that he had not abandoned them and reminding them of His supernatural ability to respond to any situation. Yet Peter has the most unbelievable reaction. "Lord, if it is you, bid me to come to you!" Peter is apparently sold out, willing to die to move forward with Jesus in this preaching of the Gospel--no matter what. We know from the portrayal of Peter's personality that he was compulsive and may not have thought through his request. For that brief moment Peter expected to walk on water.
Yet Jesus, knowing Peter was still fearful and that he did not have enough faith to walk on water, calls him to come out of the boat. Once out of the boat Peter suddenly pays attention to the wind and the waves--those circumstances that would be the primary factors in any one's observation during a storm. When Peter cries out Jesus immediately takes him by the hand and they are suddenly safely in the boat, the sea is calm. Peter had walked on water! It must have been a dream like memory that consumed all of them as they completed their journey by boat across the lake. Imagine being on that boat witnessing these events!
This amazing story speaks volumes today. We know that God asks us to walk by faith, to show our faith by our works, to live by faith, that the prayers of the faithful will heal the sick--but we don't feel like we have enough faith against the onslaught of difficulties we seem to face increasingly. We don't! Our faith on it's own would never be enough to see any kind of miracle. But it only takes faith as a grain of mustard seed placed fully in a Mighty God for us to see the supernatural. Jesus said to Peter, "Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Jesus did not say, Why don't you have more faith? Jesus knows we are sometime impulsive and he knows our faith is inadequate to walk in the miraculous. It is our crying out to him that causes his heart to be touched on our behalf. Imagine what we could accomplish if we did not doubt!
This is different than that holy boldness that we sometimes walk in when we know that we know what God wants us to do or say and we can rise up in the power of his name and go forth. When we face seemingly insurmountable circumstances we must remember that when we feel the weakest, He is the strongest! He gets all the glory as we become less, yet trust him with our last, tiny bit of faith left in us to face that situation. This is victory. It is a victory that overcomes any circumstance--even death. We can trust him! He is a Mighty God!
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