Point of Tension

Those of us who have a Christian commitment need to be honest with ourselves about the tension between belief and unbelief that exists at our very core.  We live in a physical world where the things which seem most real are those we can touch, taste, smell, hear and see.  Tangibles represent a certain security.  However, as “believers,” we also live in a spiritual world which is only spiritually discerned.  At times that dimension can seem more real than the physical, but at other times, we struggle to hang on.  It is easy to believe when life is cruising along without bumps in the road.  It is much more difficult when hardship and discouragement descend and the way ahead seems impassable.

We are not alone.  Job was a man of enormous faith, but when he experienced great suffering, he swung from despair to ecstasy and back again.

                Job 9:33  If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

                Job 10:18  Why did you bring me out of the womb?  I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

                Job 19:25  I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

In the New Testament, a man with a demon-possessed son comes to Christ.  His dilemma is the same.  He has watched in grief as his son has been tormented, and there seems to be no cure.

                Mark 9:21-21  Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” 

                “From childhood,” he answered.  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.  But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

                “If you can?” said Jesus.  “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

                Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

The King James Version says this more poetically:  “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Personally, at times of great difficulty and discouragement, when I have questioned God’s existence and whether faith in Him had validity, I have come to the point of thinking, “If there is no solution to my situation in faith, there is no solution anywhere.  I chose to believe……Lord, help my unbelief.”

I would encourage those with doubts, not to beat up on themselves.  God “remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14)  He did not browbeat the boy’s father or refuse to heal the boy because the father had a sliver of unbelief.  He accepted the faith that the man did have and responded by healing the son.

God accepts our honest questions today, just as He accepted those of Job.  We do not have to fear approaching the God of the universe, because He is also a loving father who knows our weaknesses.