Showing Doubt the Door

How come it is so easy for us to believe in our doubts, yet so hard for us to believe in our faith?  After all, neither has any absolute concrete tangible proof so why do we always tend to lean towards the negative instead of the positive?  Many of us can trust God to get us from our house to our office without a major traffic accident, but we crumble when it comes to trusting God to open up the right career door or introduce us to the right mate.  What gives?  God is still God.  He hasn’t changed.  He is still the same God that parted the sea for the Israelites to cross to safety.  He is still the same God that healed the sick, led Ruth to Boaz and out of love actually made the sun reverse direction to prove His promise to Hezekiah when He added fifteen years to his life.  He is still the same God that conquered death and rolled away the stone from His own tomb thereby making it possible for you and me to have a hope and a limitless future.  Does anything really seem too hard or impossible for this God of Israel?  Is it really impossible for Him to open up an opportunity for you?  Is it really impossible for Him to introduce you to the right mate at the right time?  Is it really impossible for Him to move you by His supernatural hand?  Is it absurd that you should focus on your limited resources when God has limitless resources in the form of divine appointments, moments of favor and mind bowing miracles some of which we have become so accustomed to that we have forgotten that they are miracles?

In my own life I find myself constantly struggling between believing God for the promises He has placed on my heart and crumbling with doubt and uncertainty in complete bleakness and misery.  I know God did not place me on this planet to flail around screaming and crying and freaking out, but I sure do find myself doing just that much more often than not.  A worried and doubtful heart is not a good thing to have as it leads to confusion and makes it very hard for its owner to accomplish much of anything and I have to say that my life thus far is living proof of the fact.  I have to wonder how my life would change if I just stopped doubting and chose to believe the promises God has placed on my heart.  I know I’d have a lot more peace and a much better attitude and who knows… things might go better too. 

Now, will everything go exactly as I want it to?  Probably not, but that is where faith in God’s Timing comes into play.  Timing is important.  A pastor here in Memphis believes that the Israelites had to spend those forty years in the desert for a reason. This pastor believes that the Israelites needed time to walk with God and by doing so they learned to trust and obey Him and that they needed that trust and obedience when it came time to enter the land of milk and honey God had prepared for them.   I too have had some recent experience in the “perfect timing” department.  For instance, I recently toyed with the idea of emailing some rabbis in a city where I knew a particular family resided and attended synagogue.  About a month later I finally got around to sending that email and would you know that not only did I pick the right rabbi, but a member of that family was in the office when the rabbi opened my email and read it to this person who then jumped on the computer and responded to my email and graciously included his contact information.  I’m sorry, but I still find that whole scenario somewhat mind-blowing.   Had that particular member of the family not been in the office the exact moment the rabbi read my email I could have gotten lost in a mountain of paperwork or even had my email deleted due to the weirdo factor, but thanks to right timing none of that happened.  I believe this to be an example of how God is still in control of time and for good reason too.

So since we are in the season of miracles what with Passover and Easter each celebrating a mind-blowing miracle of their own concerning the redeeming blood of the Sacrificial Lamb… I am kicking doubt to the curb.  No more giving power to my doubts by believing them.  Instead, I am choosing to believe God and the promises He has placed on my heart no matter what.  From now on I am answering my doubts with God’s word and only His word.  I am going to be thirty-two soon and I frankly cannot afford to spend another day wondering around confused, worried and defeated because I am allowing my fears to grow stronger than my God.    

Happy Passover/Easter to those celebrating and may the miracles involved in each serve as a reminder of the great and awesome power of our God.