Do you believe God will take care of you?
Do you believe that God will take care of you? Regardless of the circumstances. Regardless of what may be occurring around you. No matter how terrible. In the midst of cries, in the midst of lost dreams, in the midst of apparent hopelessness... do you believe God will take care of you? It's an important question. The answer reminds us where we are in our walk with God. It tells us if we are even walking at all.
The Bible is filled with accounts of bravery, men and women challenging the powers of this world for the glory of God. But there is one that does not occur on the battlefield nor in the courts of kings and queens. It takes place on a dusty road. This account is of one of the greatest acts of bravery you will ever read, though most would hardly give it such recognition. It is not of a warrior, but of a nameless, simple man.
Jesus had been away and upon His return was surrounded by a large crowd. An argument had been going on and Jesus asked what it was about. A man answered that his son was possessed by a spirit that for years had caused the boy terrible pain and torment. He begged, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Jesus replied, if you can? Everything is possible for him who believes. Mark 9:22b-23 And then came an incredible act of bravery. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Mark 9:24
Why is this an act of bravery? Think of a tremendous, desperate need in your life. It may be about you or someone else. It affects everything you do. You rise in the morning thinking about it. You go to bed with it still on your mind. You struggle with why this has happened, more specifically, why God has allowed this to happen. You pray, share with others, and go to church. You try to be strong, but deep inside you grieve, you mourn, and you're angry. And no help seems to come.
Then one day you're surrounded by family, friends and neighbors, people who know the person you've claimed to be. You hear of someone who might help. You've heard the stories of what he's done for others, maybe even witnessed a few yourselves. You know that God can work through this man. But when you tell him what is so terribly wrong, he looks at you and says it depends on whether you believe God will take care of you. Would you admit... before your family, your friends, your neighbors, people you see everyday, people you work with, before God Himself... that you don't?
Like us, the desperate father had no problem believing that God has the power and authority to do anything and everything. And he was wise enough to understand that God does not do miracles for unbelievers as though they were parlor tricks. He moves mountains in the lives of those who love Him, of those who believe in Him, of those who follow Him. So then, what was the father's problem?
Take pity on us! Help us! Us! This was not like hearing what God does for someone in a faraway land or seeing it happen for someone else. This was his own child he was desperate for. The father's real problem was that he wasn't sure God would take care of his son. Without that, he couldn't be sure God would take care of him. Where there is no certainty, there is no belief. And here, the father didn't believe. Yet he had the courage to admit it and ask that Jesus help him overcome his doubt.
It takes a long time for most of us to truly trust God and believe that in all situations, regardless of what's going on around us, He will take care of us. And there will always be those times when He allows our belief to be tested so that it can be made stronger. I receive hundreds of emails each day from people whose belief in God is being tested, but I don't have to look there for examples.
Just recently we learned that after 29 years of devoted service, my wife's position at her company is no longer needed. The assurance of her job has allowed me to focus on Ciloa all these years. Ah, but it is so easy, even without realizing it, to look to an income, a pension plan, or a 401K for comfort rather than to our Heavenly Father. Immediately the questions come: What will we do? How can we live? Will we have to move? How can Ciloa survive? I wonder how thin we'll get? Then we remember Who's in charge. The more tightly we cling to anything other than God, the more certain we can be that He will take it away. It may be a job, a house, a relationship, even a ministry or a church. He is, after all, a jealous God. He wants us to look to Him, to trust in Him, to admit when we don't, and to ask that our belief be strengthened. He wants us to believe He will take care of us.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
Chuck
Do you believe that God will take care of you? Regardless of the circumstances. Regardless of what may be occurring around you. No matter how terrible. In the midst of cries, in the midst of lost dreams, in the midst of apparent hopelessness... do you believe God will take care of you? It's an important question. The answer reminds us where we are in our walk with God. It tells us if we are even walking at all.
The Bible is filled with accounts of bravery, men and women challenging the powers of this world for the glory of God. But there is one that does not occur on the battlefield nor in the courts of kings and queens. It takes place on a dusty road. This account is of one of the greatest acts of bravery you will ever read, though most would hardly give it such recognition. It is not of a warrior, but of a nameless, simple man.
Jesus had been away and upon His return was surrounded by a large crowd. An argument had been going on and Jesus asked what it was about. A man answered that his son was possessed by a spirit that for years had caused the boy terrible pain and torment. He begged, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Jesus replied, if you can? Everything is possible for him who believes. Mark 9:22b-23 And then came an incredible act of bravery. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Mark 9:24
Why is this an act of bravery? Think of a tremendous, desperate need in your life. It may be about you or someone else. It affects everything you do. You rise in the morning thinking about it. You go to bed with it still on your mind. You struggle with why this has happened, more specifically, why God has allowed this to happen. You pray, share with others, and go to church. You try to be strong, but deep inside you grieve, you mourn, and you're angry. And no help seems to come.
Then one day you're surrounded by family, friends and neighbors, people who know the person you've claimed to be. You hear of someone who might help. You've heard the stories of what he's done for others, maybe even witnessed a few yourselves. You know that God can work through this man. But when you tell him what is so terribly wrong, he looks at you and says it depends on whether you believe God will take care of you. Would you admit... before your family, your friends, your neighbors, people you see everyday, people you work with, before God Himself... that you don't?
Like us, the desperate father had no problem believing that God has the power and authority to do anything and everything. And he was wise enough to understand that God does not do miracles for unbelievers as though they were parlor tricks. He moves mountains in the lives of those who love Him, of those who believe in Him, of those who follow Him. So then, what was the father's problem?
Take pity on us! Help us! Us! This was not like hearing what God does for someone in a faraway land or seeing it happen for someone else. This was his own child he was desperate for. The father's real problem was that he wasn't sure God would take care of his son. Without that, he couldn't be sure God would take care of him. Where there is no certainty, there is no belief. And here, the father didn't believe. Yet he had the courage to admit it and ask that Jesus help him overcome his doubt.
It takes a long time for most of us to truly trust God and believe that in all situations, regardless of what's going on around us, He will take care of us. And there will always be those times when He allows our belief to be tested so that it can be made stronger. I receive hundreds of emails each day from people whose belief in God is being tested, but I don't have to look there for examples.
Just recently we learned that after 29 years of devoted service, my wife's position at her company is no longer needed. The assurance of her job has allowed me to focus on Ciloa all these years. Ah, but it is so easy, even without realizing it, to look to an income, a pension plan, or a 401K for comfort rather than to our Heavenly Father. Immediately the questions come: What will we do? How can we live? Will we have to move? How can Ciloa survive? I wonder how thin we'll get? Then we remember Who's in charge. The more tightly we cling to anything other than God, the more certain we can be that He will take it away. It may be a job, a house, a relationship, even a ministry or a church. He is, after all, a jealous God. He wants us to look to Him, to trust in Him, to admit when we don't, and to ask that our belief be strengthened. He wants us to believe He will take care of us.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
Chuck
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