I begin today with two questions:
1. What if you are living by faith and yet you don’t see God’s promise to you fulfilled in your lifetime?
2. Can you dare to believe that God will still keep His promise, even if you don’t get to see it during your time on Earth?
Matthew 14:22-31 NIV
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. 23 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s You,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to You on the water.” 29 “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
I am one of those who would rather sink with faith than swim without it… —Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister, 1923-29, 1935-37
I. Again, God sees a much bigger picture of our faith than we do.
A. As we have established in this series, faith isn’t the
B. Faith
Mark 9:21-24 MSG
21-22 He asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been going on?” “Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!” 23 Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.” 24 No sooner were the words out of His mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”
II. Is it possible that you might grow so intimate with God that you are able to keep loving and serving Him despite your disappointment?
A. Habakkuk is a good teacher for us on this lesson…
Habakkuk 1:12-17 MSG
12-13 God, You’re from eternity, aren’t You? Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we? God, You chose Babylonians for Your judgment work? Rock-Solid God, You gave them the job of discipline? But You can’t be serious! You can’t condone evil! So why don’t You do something about this? Why are You silent now? This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and You stand around and watch! 14-16 You’re treating men and women as so many fish in the ocean, swimming without direction, swimming but not getting anywhere. Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing. He pulls in a good catch. He catches his limit and fills his bucket—a good day of fishing! He’s happy! He praises his rod and reel, piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it! It’s made his day, and he’s going to eat well tonight! 17 Are You going to let this go on and on? Will You let this Babylonian fisherman Fish like a weekend angler, killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?
B. Habakkuk is a good teacher for us on this lesson, because it was not until the next
C. We cannot measure God’s
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
D. If you truly want to come out of the valley and grow closer to God – no matter what - then these are the three words you need to remember on your journey toward intimacy and ultimate trust and faith in Him.
Habakkuk 2:20 NKJV
“But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
III. Your world may seem upside down, but the Lord is still there…
A. Some thoughts:
1. I have to respect that He is
2. His timing is
II Peter 3:8-9 AMPC
8 Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
3. God knows the
B. Sometimes our faith is tested until it feels like there’s hardly anything left.
C. Yet, note another amazing reality of faith…
Matthew 17:20 NIV
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
D. Some thoughts here…
- What if
- What if a tiny bit of
- What if simply wanting to believe is the
- You have to have