As a pastor and a shepherd of people, I’ve noticed something becoming more and more prevalent in our society. More and more people are having, what I call, a crisis of faith. They find themselves amid problematic circumstances and or situations and they don’t know what to do about it.
When this happens, people start asking questions like; “why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” or “why doesn’t God do something about my circumstance?” And when I sit down with them and we start talking about what it is that’s going on, I find that they have a wealth of knowledge about God and the Bible.
They can, and sometimes do, quote chapter and verses from the Bible. They tell you that they know that God is able and capable of doing this or that. They will even tell you stories and or testimonies of people who experienced God doing this or that.
And then they want to know why God doesn’t do this or that for them? From a pastor’s and a shepherd’s perspective, I’ve found that the problem many times are that people have a lot of knowledge, but they don’t do anything with that knowledge, they don’t really believe.
For example, in Mar 9:14-27 we read the story of a father who brought his son to Jesus.
His son was being tormented by an unclean spirit and no one seemed to be able to do anything about it. In verse 22 we find the father saying to Jesus; “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Listen to Jesus’ reply and how the father responded; 23 Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can’? Everything is possible to the one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” There’s a huge difference between knowledge and believing something. And when push comes to shove, knowledge won’t do us any good, then is when we need to know what it is, we believe. And if we struggle, we need to respond like this father did, by asking God to help our unbelief.
Blessings.
Pastor Jay-Jay Botha
Full Gospel Church
