doubt, wednesday

Wednesday, November 4

Opening Prayer: Father, you alone know what lies before me this day, grant that in every hour of it I may stay close to you.  Let me today embark on no undertaking that is not in line with your will for my life, nor shrink from any sacrifice which your will may demand.  Suggest, direct, control every movement of my mind; for my Lord Christ’s sake.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)

Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15

Journal: What situations in your life make it difficult for you to believe that God is really at work?  What promises of God do you have the hardest time believing?  Why?  How can you grow in the certainty of God’s promises? 

Reflection:

 

     Questions of faith are not like riddles or crossword puzzles: with things of this sort it may take some time to find the solution, but once it’s found, everything is clear and simple.  It is completely different with the faith.  Here we have, not human truth which men can state and understand, but God’s truth, which goes far beyond any statement or understanding of man’s.  The faith never becomes clear.  The faith remains obscure.  Not until we enter glory will it be otherwise: “We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face.  Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).  Only when we are in glory will it be otherwise.  Until then there will always be more difficulties coming up, more doubts coming up: there are bound to be.  Doubt is the shadow cast by faith.  One does not always notice it, but it is always there, though concealed.  At any moment it may come into action.  There is no mystery of faith which is immune to doubt. (That the World May Believe by Hans Küng)

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, our God, is anything too hard for you?  Is anything too difficult for you to accomplish?  Is anything too broken for you to make whole?  Is anything too lost for you to redeem?  Give us complete trust, O Sovereign Lord, in your awesome power and in your extravagant love.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.