When My Faith Seems Small

Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and said, "You surely don't have much faith. Why do you doubt?"(Matthew 14:31, CEV)

When I was a kid, my grandfather like alot of people his age having lived through the Great Depression, had doubts about the banking system. While he had a bank account, he also kept a safe in the house and kept a lot of money in that as well. When he passed away, my father found some flour sacks in the freezer that were filled with silver dollars as a back up system to his safe, I guess. I don't know the exact amount but I know the sacks were pretty full and quite heavy. My father split them with his sister and he took his to a bank and put them in the a safe deposit box. He did keep some in the freezer like his father did. We all have doubts at times about things, I guess.

You may have heard the story that when I built that motorcycle that sits at the front of the church, the first time, I took it up on the highway at about 70 mph, I looked down at the front wheel and thought to myself, "did I use red Loctite on that front wheel or did I use blue Loctite." I even doubted myself even though I had put every bolt on that bike and torqued them to the right specifications. So, I guess the question is what do we do when we have doubts in our faith? Things creep in like, "did God hear that prayer, why did God not protect me in that situation." I have also heard people say, "what happens if I die and find out none of this Christ thing is true" or we doubt that God is working in our best interest.

In the passage above, we see Peter who sees Jesus walking across the water to the boat. He can see Him right in front of His eyes. Jesus says, come to me and Peter steps out of the boat and starts toward Him. At some point, even though Peter can see Him, even though he is witnessing a miracle right before his eyes, Peter doubts and as a result begins to sink. Jesus catches Peter's hand and lifts him back up to the surface of the water and keeps him from sinking further. As we know, this is not the only time Peter will doubt. He will struggle with his faith for most of his life especially when things get difficult or scary. It seems like us, doesn't it. Even in the moment of a miracle we may say to ourselves, "is this really happening?" Is this Divine intervention or we may just attribute it to some good luck or as some would say, "karma." C.S. Lewis emphasized that doubt is unfortunately a part of the human condition. Something that is built in the weakness of the human soul. Think about it, that is what happened in the very beginning. When Satan proposed to Eve that eating the fruit of the tree would make her like God, she doubted that God would have her best interest at heart by telling her to not to do something. In the same writings, Lewis said, "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

When your faith feels small here are some ideas:

Seek answers. Billy Graham emphasized the importance of actively seeking answers to doubts rather than clinging to them. He said that while doubts can arise, they should not be used as an excuse to avoid God. Don't let your doubts pull you from the source of knowledge that can best answer your questions. I think, we get ashamed of our doubts and so we hide, just like Eve hid in the garden to avoid God, we hide behind our fears and doubts believing that God will abandon us for having them. Normalize your feelings and recognize that feelings and intellect can sometimes lead you to wrong conclusions. Scripture says, the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) and can lead us to the wrong place if we put that first. Jesus will give us a hand, just like he did with Peter. As we struggle to maintain our faith. Think about that. Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the U.S., contributing to approximately 69%–75% of all cases overturned by DNA evidence yet we rely on our human senses more often than not. When race is a part of the identification the inaccuracy increases. Peter saw water and knew that he could sink rather than watching the miracle of Christ unfold before his very eyes relying on Christ's words. "Come."

Give some normalcy to your doubts and recognize that you are human. Sometimes a season in life will leave us with big faith. Sometimes it will leave us with normal faith and sometimes it will leave us with little faith. If that were not the case, Jesus would not have said, " O you of little faith." Remember that even small faith is still real faith. Jesus said, even faith that size of a mustard seed can accomplish the impossible."(Matthew 17:20). A mustard seed is not large or noticeable. It is small enough to be overlooked. But it is alive. And given time, it grows. Our small faith can grow when cared and nurtured correctly. When a man came to Jesus asking his son to be healed, Jesus asked him, "do you have faith." He replied, I do and please help me to have more. Mark 9:24  Right away the boy's father shouted, "I do have faith! Please help me to have even more." When doubt effects our faith, we must ask for help to increase our faith. Jesus meets our faith where it is. We need to accept that fact, because many of us may feel pressure to pretend, to sound confident when we are unsure, to project strength when we feel weak. But Jesus is not looking for performance. He is looking for trust.

Lastly, remember that faith tested grows. Peter equates trials to the fire that purifies gold. Through the testing of the metal in fire it removes the impurities and becomes a pure form. Remember what Peter said in his epistle. (1 Peter 1:6-7)- On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns. Let us not beat ourselves up over small faith times, because at other times, it will be so big that all doubt disappears. Accept we are effected by adversity. Things like disappointment, long term stress, loss, depression and conflict can all affect us and our faith. It is at those times, we will need to ask that simple question. "God can you make my faith stronger, today? I need that." Remember, small faith is still real faith. The front wheel stays on, the darkness turns to light and the world will turn toward the sun. There is an old saying that "one swallow doesn't make a summer." That is a saying that refers to the swallows of Capistrano. Summer is not there when a single swallow arrives. Summer arrives when they all come back.

When our faith seems small take it to the source. Rely on our brothers and sister in Christ to help it build. For those of you that go to a gym regularly, you know that over time you can lift more and more weight. What may start out as a 5 lb dumbell will turn into a 15 or 20 lb dumbell becasue the resistance strengthens muscle. Our faith is a muscle. We must exercise faith regularly by relying more on God every day and in doing that we will see it strengthen. When we don't think we need God our faith will weaken.

Much Love,

Preach