You were told to pray…You did.
You were told to have faith and study the word…You obeyed.
Prophecies and promises from God kept you going.
Your hope was raised.
Your heart was lifted up.
But when you thought you had nearly got hold of what you wanted,everything became a mirage instead of a miracle! When you needed God,it seemed He was no where to be found.
You felt disappointed!
You became angry with God!(If that is real anyway)
Then you thought:
“God does not exist! How on earth could all these happen to a child of God? Is God deaf? Is He blind ? Did he not hear my petitions to Him? Couldn’t He see that I needed this miracle? Why was I involved in that accident? Couldn’t He protect me from it? Why was I diagnosed with this serious ailment? I thought I used to hear that by Christ’s stripes I was healed.Were His hands too short to save? Why did I still lose my loved one despite all my prayers for healing? God must be dead!”
Depression set in,you avoided the gathering of the people that encouraged you to pray.You didn’t want anybody to raise your hopes again especially your Pastors!
Hear this: You are not alone! It is not peculiar to only you! Many saints had passed through this narrow path before you.
Every giant of faith you see today had crises of faith at one point or the other.I meant moments where they were faced with contradictions of what they believed.
Lets study some examples in the Bible:
Gideon:
“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about…” -Judges 6:12-13
Gideon was like saying to the angel:
“The Lord is with us and the Midianites have oppressed us for 7 years?” I don’t believe you sir.
“The Lord is with us and we are living in mountain clefts and caves because of fear of the Midianites? Sir you can tell me another thing,this one does not hold water!
“The Lord is with us and all our crops are ruined during harvest by the Midianites? I don’t think so for our fathers told us the exploits the Lord did when He brought them out of Egypt.
Gideon had crises of faith because the apparent conditions in Israel then were the direct opposite of all what he knew about God.
Are you in similar conditions where the promises of God and your theological beliefs about God are being tackled by harsh circumstances?
It is well! You are not alone.
David: Many lines of the Psalms he wrote were replete of times he was drained emotionally because God seemed not to answer him on time:
“I am exhausted as I groan; all night long I drench my bed in tears; my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.”-Psalm 6:6
Has this ever happened to you before? I mean,you wept all night? Lets check what made David weep all night:6 vs 2-3
Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am frail! Heal me, LORD, for my bones are shaking!
I am absolutely terrified, and you, LORD–how long will this continue?
He was emotionally down to the point where it resulted into physical manifestation- His body became frail.Who knows if his blood pressure shot up too?
Wait a second…This same David wrote something opposite to this in Psalm 3:5-6 when he fled from his son Absalom:
I rested and slept; I awoke, for the LORD protects me.
I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side”
What now made David to be “absolutely terrified” in 6:3? He had crisis of faith.
His belief in God was confronted with more difficult problems beyond just running away from his son.God too now seemed to be unusually quiet during this period.David was terrified!
Lets check out another instance where he had crisis of faith: Psalm 9:1-3
“I will thank the LORD with all my heart! I will tell about all your amazing deeds!
I will be happy and rejoice in you! I will sing praises to you, O sovereign One!
My enemies turn back when you appear; they fall down and die”
The verses above sound like “testimonies time” in our churches today…Right? I mean,moments of victory when you boldly testify of God’s goodness.
Fast forward to 3-4 chapters,specifically Psalm 13:2,David wrote:
How long must I be confused and miserable all day? How long will my enemies keep beating me down?(NET)
How long must I struggle in my soul at night and have sorrow in my heart during the day? How long will my enemy rise up against me?(ISV)
Hummmm…But the enemies turned back from him initially how did they become problematic for him suddenly?
Now he wanted to know how long he would be in that situation.
What a crisis of faith!
To be continued…
Stay blessed.