What to Do with Belief

2/26/2017

Mark 5.36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” – St. Mark

In Mark 5, the parents of a dying little girl reached out to Jesus and asked Him to heal her. So, Jesus went to their city to pray for the girl. At some point the girl died and those from the city said, Don’t waste Jesus’ time, your girl has passed away. I imagine the distraught father looking at Jesus as if to say: Now what? And Jesus responded, Don’t be afraid; just believe.

That might be a word for you this day. Bills are piling up. No job. Some disease. Relationships are falling apart… Don’t be afraid, just believe.

The first and best thing to do, is to go to Jesus for help: Help me Lord, my circumstances are overwhelming! And it’s true, they are. You worry and fret. You weep with fear. You can’t hold a conversation with someone about your plight without getting all teary. You want Jesus to help, but you’re too afraid of what’s happening. Jesus would say to you: Don’t be afraid; just believe.

Do you know what believing entails? It is more than just showing up at church. Yes, church is important, but just showing up doesn’t do you much. Believing requires action, and that action has to be able stand up to the fears that oppress and torment you, by claiming the Lord’s rescue, His assistance, and His deliverance or provision.

Two questions: If He’s not going to do it, who is? And, if He’s not going to do it, why ask?

True faith is active belief. The man knew he needed help from Jesus if his little daughter was to be saved. But things were swirling around him and people were saying things and the rational voice proclaimed: Dude, this is beyond what anyone can do. And there, precisely is where the fight of faith starts: in circumstances that are beyond what we or anyone else can do.

God isn’t just anyone. God is the God of the Big Ask. Our problem is we are so hammered mentally by our circumstances that we find ourselves in a place without hope. Hope is this: God has said. Wishful thinking is this: I hope God hears my prayers… See the difference? I pray because He hears! If the answer is, No; then I can lay my head on the pillow tonight and say: I prayed. And trust His answer.

Jesus says, Don’t be afraid, just believe. That doesn’t mean we get what we want, it means we had faith enough to come to God with what we need, trusting that He hears – and fighting our fears – with our prayers. Regardless of what He does, can we believe God? That is the question. And if the answer is no, do we quit believing in Him? What do we do with God’s answers?

Friend, our job is to believe. Our job is to bathe the throne of God with our sloppy prayers and believe for the greater miracle: that God hears us. We are to live out our days believing in faith, not living in fear.

Father in Heaven, You know the things I grapple with and the energy I expend in fear of those things. Today, it’s don’t be afraid, just believe. Help me God, to believe that You are You and that You are with me and not against me. Help me to believe You know and hear my prayers, and You are acting on my behalf with what I am struggling with. May I kill fear with belief. May I honor You with believing prayer. Amen