Day 2502 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Acts 2:26 NIV

Yesterday we talked about this pervasive little lie that creeps in and convinces us that God has turned away and left us to face life all on our own. We fall into this habit of paying far too much attention to our circumstances and become blinded to the fact that God is with us and that He always will be. We could very well go so far as to lose all hope in Him and start questioning our faith altogether.

That's sadly a pretty common thing these days. I've heard quite a few stories of rather prominent Christians who have come out saying that they're no longer sure of their faith. They've allowed the lies of doubt to become their truth and lead them to this place of doubting God. They've questioned everything to the point that the only answer they're left with is the one that humanity often falls back on: If you can't see it or touch it or feel it then it's not there.

I understand the power of doubt. We all do. We all come up against things in life that simply suck. We go through things that we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy. We endure things that make no sense and only seem to bring pain and misery into our lives. We're called to walk on this path that affords us very little foresight and asks us to keep moving forward even though we can't see what's ahead.

It's not comfortable. But what makes it even more uncomfortable is when we take our eyes off of God. This road is hard enough as it is. It's loaded with trials, challenges, obstacles, disappointments, confusion, uncertainty, and yes even quite a lot of pain. But I can't imagine facing it all without that hope that tells us there's a reason. I can't imagine how much more difficult and scary it would be without the faith that tells us that God is with us and won't let us be crushed by the weight of life.

Folks, doubt seems like our factory setting. I don't know why it's that way or when it happened or if there's some secret to dealing with it and never feeling it again. But I do know we have a choice. We can either keep falling for this lie that God's abandoned us, that He doesn't care, that He doesn't listen to our prayers, or that He isn't even there at all. Or we can allow our hearts to believe in the impossible. We can allow our souls to trust in the One we can't see. We can hold tight to this hope that tells us He is there, He does listen, and He cares far more than we can imagine.

As for me, I'd rather hope in something good than allow the negativity of doubt to keep me buried in fear. I would rather trust in something and someone that I can't see than to accept this idea that all I can see is all there is. I would rather put my faith in God and believe with everything I have that He has a plan and that it is good than to live under this assumption that there's no meaning or purpose to the things we experience.

Just know that there is no joy, no peace, no hope, no rest in a life filled with doubt. It's nothing but a bunch of questions that have no answers because we'd even doubt the answers if we happen upon them. But we don't have to walk that path. We don't have to choose that option. We can have faith even though it won't always make sense. We can trust even though it can be scary. We can surrender this human desire to know and understand everything and humble ourselves to following God's path and leaning on His wisdom instead.

We don't need to know everything or have the answer to every question. We need to stop making life all about us and the comfort we find in controlling everything and let God be God. We'll never find rest trying to satisfy our need to understand. But we'll find plenty when we let go and trust that God knows what He's doing and that it's all for our good.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold