Daily Devotional For Sunday, May 12, 2024
Ever felt like God was not listening to your prayers? There are times we all feel this way. Look at Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your Presence and the pleasures of living with You forever” (NLT). There are times we really want God to show us the way of life and when it seems it doesn’t, we can get disappointed and even depressed. I have had multiple strokes and to this day, no doctor can tell me why. I have asked God to tell the doctors through tests but so far no one in the medical profession has told me conclusively this is the cause. One medical blood test led them to think one cause but two other doctors have ruled that out due to the test showing me borderline for this cause.
It is often the unknown that stresses us more than anything else. We believe and I believe God hears us when we pray; it is what seems to be short on answering that is the problem. The Bible says “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 For. 5:7). Notice it says we “walk by faith,” not “run by faith.” Walking and running have two separate speeds. I have been a runner most of my adult life. I run up to 5 miles usually. I have when younger, run double that or more. Today, I am content to do just five miles. With all the strokes, doctors have told me to walk instead. It takes me double the time to walk 5 miles than it does to run 5 miles. I do not like walking. I get bored, it takes too much times, and I keep thinking, “If I was running, I would already be here.”
What I have learned is when it comes to faith, at least keep walking. There are things we do not understand and they may never make sense. Here is another thing I have learned about faith. Everything we do in life requires some measure of faith. There are no 100% proofs with anything really. You get in your car to drive somewhere, you have faith you will arrive there safely — there’ll be no accidents, at least none involving you. When you go shopping, it requires some measure of faith to think you will be able to go in, search for what you want, buy it and bring it home. You are not thinking someone may come in with a weapon and start shooting.
If you are in college and have a roommate, you have no 100% they will not murder you while you sleep. My point is this — we do not make any decisions on proofs, we make them on evidence. You get in your car and drive somewhere because the evidence tells you you have enough gas to get there and since you have always got there safely before, you probably will this time. This is why Hebrews 11:1 says this, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (NLT). See the word “evidence?” Yet there are times life does not go the way we planned and sometimes that is horribly different from what we expected. David Biebel writes about this in A Christian Men’s publication called Men of Integrity:
“I still don't understand, nearly 10 years later. At least I don't understand why the Lord allowed my sons to be afflicted with infantile bilateral striatal necrosis. I don't understand why Jonathan died or why Christopher lived. Today he's 16 and nearly totally recovered.
All I understand is this: life is a riddle, which God wants me to experience but not necessarily solve. When I was struggling to solve it, I found (1 Corinthians 13:12), which only makes sense in the original Greek: "For now we see (or understand) through a mirror, in a riddle," the apostle Paul wrote, "but then face to face."
Modern Christians sometimes rush to put God's truth into little boxes, neatly systematized, categorized, organized, and principle-ized, when God's perspective on suffering is too big for any of that. While for some "spirituality" is defined by what you know, God may be more concerned with how you handle what you cannot know.
A riddle loses its mystery and its power, even perhaps its significance, once it is solved. By keeping us in our riddle (every person's riddle is unique) God is helping us learn to walk by faith, and not by sight” (Source: David Biebel, author. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2).
Questions To Consider
- What prayers have you sent up to heaven and there has been no response? How have you dealt with that?
- Why do you think God says we “walk by faith,” not “run by faith?”
- Even with the prayers you have no answers for today, what “evidence” is out there that shows you God loves you, cares for you, is gracious to you and has redeemed you?
- What is the hardest thing for you personally to “walk by faith” and not by sight?
- David Biebel said God may be more concerned with how we handle what we cannot know. What do you think of his statement and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: James 1:3-4, “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. (4) So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect (matured) and complete, needing nothing” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, there are prayers I have prayed that I wish you would give me the answers. If one of the ways you are trying to mature me in my relationship to Jesus Christ, is for me to learn how I handle what I cannot know, I will accept Your will for my life. Please forgive me when I doubt you and do not trust You. All the evidence shows me I can and I should. I recommit my life to trust You with what I cannot know. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! — Pastor Kelly