Believe, You say?

                                    🪷🪷🪷

Doubt. Uncertainty. Confusion. Anxiety. Panic. Fright. Faintheartedness. Dismay. Apprehension. Worry. A troubled heart...

Truth is there's probably a dozen more names this thing could take up on any one occasion. It plagues the hearts and souls of many countless times, and the worst part is the numbness it leaves. No one wants to feel dead while they're still living. If you do, then maybe you've been so accustomed to that numbness that you don't know any other way to live. That you can actually feel something...anything. Just not nothing. 

One such once lively and joyful child was trapped in this same cage. She had grown cold. The light in her eyes sparkled much less. Her smile, much narrower. Her countenance, much paler. The questions? Much much more. She was lonely, but a tiny part of her still had faith that there was Someone right there with her...Someone who could offer her the help she so desperately needed. 

"What am I to do?" her heart whispered. 

"Believe," He said, "believe in me."

"Is it enough to just believe?" she whispered softly again, her eyes widening a little.

"More than I could ever teach you..." came the Father's loving response. 

                                         🪷🪷🪷

🌸

Mark 5:35-36 RSV

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 

But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 

🌸

It's funny how Jesus makes it sound so simple. "Just believe," He says to someone that just lost their daughter. Maybe that's just how simple it should be. After all, we call ourselves believers, don't we? It should be as natural for us to believe as it is for God to love or for Satan to lie, don't you think? 

I am opined that all these attacks the enemy wages against us in the name of fear are to destabilize us in the area we are expected to be strongest in. Think about it for a moment though. If the enemy gets to create out of us a bunch of unbelieving believers, then he's pretty much won the fight. The enemy knows that the way for us to live is through believing. If he can get us to stop believing, we stop living, yet are still alive. Check this:

🍁

Hebrews 10:38-39 NIV 

But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

🍁

The promise of eternal life as it is in John 3:16 only holds to them that believe. 

🍂

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

🍂

The very first and most fundamental step is believing. Now here's the catch...

🌸

2Timothy 1:12 NIV 

That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 

🌸

Remember the Israelites in the wilderness? Their faith was limited to a huge degree because unlike Moses, they did not really know God or have intimate moments with Him for that matter. They were quick to make themselves a golden calf and worship it when Moses took too long on the mountain. To them, He was the God of Moses, more than He was their God. They did not know whom they were expected to believe.

That applies to quite a number of us. There's a confidence that we can only find in knowing God. Our depth of the knowledge of Him determines our level of confidence in Him. Paul in the above letter to Timothy points out that despite the suffering he went through, never did he waver through doubt or unbelief. He knew whom He had believed, and for that reason he was not moved by any of his sufferings. 

I'm not sure I'd say the same thing with so much conviction. Fear sure has a way of playing the same old tricks on us and causing us to waver a little. One time we're bold and are doing the impossible by virtue of believing. Next thing we know we're not even doing the bare minimum because fear somehow crept in. Take this case study for example. (It's a familiar story but my advice is that you read it like one's that doing it for the very first time. There's so much you can get from the Bible just from reading between the lines 😊)

🍁

Matthew 14.22-33 NKJV

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."

And Peter answered Him and said, 

"Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

🍁

I know this passage of Scripture has been preached countless times and we love to pay attention to the part that says, "when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid." That's just one of the factors that led to fear, but I think there's so much more to just "fixing our eyes on Jesus" in this portion of Scripture.

Pay attention to where fear is first mentioned and you'll realize that it was when the disciples saw Jesus and mistook Him for a ghost. Prior to that the author records that it was stormy, and the boat was being tossed by the waves - but it doesn't say anywhere in that moment that they were afraid. When Jesus speaks, He first reveals His identity (It is I), then asks them not to fear (do not be afraid). In this He reveals a pattern that I'd like us all to see.

The fear they had could only be eliminated by the revelation and knowledge of who He really was. Peter in that moment was willing to walk on water too but on one condition, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come..." Again, it was the knowledge that this was actually Jesus that gave him the boldness to do what otherwise seemed impossible. Why then was he afraid when he saw the wind and began sinking, you may ask. I'd say that although there was a truth or revelation about Jesus that he had then, he was yet to be fully grounded and established in it. 

Let's deviate a bit and look at it this way. The Word of God is Truth. This Truth is like a seed. A seed isn't planted for it to remain a seed, but to grow to its full stature, till it matures and yields a bountiful harvest. Jesus best illustrated this using the parable of the Sower, and for this we'll narrow down to those seeds that fell on stony places.

🌱

Matthew 13:5-6; 20-21NKJV

Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

🌱

But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

🌱

This is what I call a short sad story. (No sooner does the 'eulogy' begin than it ends 🤧). It so perfectly echoes the previous account on Peter walking on water. The seedlings weren't scorched because the sun was too hot. Scripture clarifies that it was because 'they had no root.' Peter began sinking because he was yet to grasp the full essence of who Jesus was. Though he had faith, it was 'little' (in Jesus' words 🙃). Because he was yet to be fully grounded and established in the knowledge of who Jesus truly was, his faith 'endured only for a while'. 

Maybe it echoes our story too, come to think of it. Believing is just the very first step. If our faith "endures only for a while", of what use is it then? Why are we so quick to stumble in our faith when the realization of the raging winds hits us? When the reality of our weakness strikes? When the enemy suddenly seems to take special interest in us? When the hard questions begin to plague our minds and hearts?

That seed withered away and was probably forgotten just like those that never did try to spring up. Maybe we too are tempted to think that it makes no difference that we tried. That we tried to hold on. That we tried to hold fast. That we tried to believe again. That we tried not to fall when we stumbled. That we tried to get back up even after we fell. That we tried to remain steady even when the winds blew so hard. That we kept on trying even after we concluded that we couldn't do so anymore...

Well, how about this? 

🌳

Colossians 2:6-7NKJV 

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

🌳

 It's why Jesus would emphasize on the need to abide in His word. KJV has it as "if ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed." (John 8:31). That tells you it's never a one-time thing. It's a process. It's why Scripture says, "walk in Him". A step at a time...one foot forward at a time. Every step counts. It makes a difference. Check this: 

🍂

Philippians 2:12 NIV 

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

🍂

There's a need to work out even the simplest and most obvious of 'truths' so as to be truly established in them - or better still, in Jesus, who is the Truth. The clincher to the story on Peter was just as simple: Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." That was in fact the essence of the whole ordeal. It sure did take a while for Peter and the rest of the disciples to be established in this truth and begin to walk in it themselves. That is to show you just how limited we are in our faith if our knowledge of God isn't deep enough. It's why growing in our knowledge of Him so important.

I don't know about you, but I choose to believe again...just a little more. I will hold fast to the 'truths' I have received. I will live them out. I will search them out all the more. I will not waver again through unbelief. I will not be afraid, though there's much to fear. I will truly live. I will thrive in spite of the wind. I will stand firm. I will continue to walk in and with Him...He whose name is Faithful and True. I will gladly answer His call and do all the things He has called me to...the first of which is believing, no matter how uncertain the future may be. 

For the fear of everything that is to come, He says: Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1 RSV)

All this in a single breath?

When the roots are deep, 

there's no reason to fear the wind.