Faith, doubt and walking on water

What is faith?

What is doubt?

Do we sometimes doubt God and have faith in ourselves?

Or do we sometimes doubt both?

The Story of Moses in Exodus 3 should challenge us in our own lives as we wonder about our confidence in trusting God. Moses asks God two questions after God asks him to do something for him

1 - Who am I? (Are you sure you've got the right guy?)

2 - Who are you? (Can I trust you?)

Often times we struggle trusting God and believing that he can do what he says he will and wants to do. So we ask all sorts of questions, as if to put God off or tell him something he's never thought of before:

I'm too young, old, unskilled, clever, fat, thin, scared, unfit , and so the list goes on.

But we forget that God is all knowing (Some people use the word omniscient - it means all knowing) So he's not going to have failed to notice something about you.

Maybe the problem is that we can't beleive that God would ask us to do something and trust him. Because God knows all our faults and how bad they are - we know that because we know how bad they are.

And God loves us and wants to use us anyway.

Which leads us to Moses other Question. Who am I? Perhaps the best answer to that is the words of Marianne Williamson that Nelson Mandela quoted on his innaugration as President of South Africa:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

In the same way as Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 14, Jesus is calling us to step out in faith and trust him. Believe that you too can do incredible things with your life should you learn to trust Jesus.

So what's your keeping you from trusting Jesus - what are you too scared to let go of? What could your life be like if you trusted God as much as he wanted you to?

Would you too walk on water?

But maybe that all seems a bridge too far at the moment, but that's where faith begins - when it all seems a bit too much for someone like you

In which case I recommend you start with the prayer of the Dad whose child needed Jesus' help in Mark 9:

"I believe - Help me believe more"

[[ See you at Re:Form - Next Sunday at 7pm ]]