A friend of ours, who had been diagnosed with an advanced cancer, lamented, “If only I had more faith, I would be cured.” Was this person lacking faith? Not at all! But maybe the person misunderstood what faith is. Unfortunately, reading the Gospels literally can give the impression that if we have faith, we can make almost anything happen.
Some texts that are used to convince us that this is how faith works are: Mark 11:22-24 (with parallels in Matthew and Luke) (If we have a tiny bit of faith we can move mountains, or mulberry trees.); Matthew 7:7-11 (with parallel in Luke) (Ask, knock, seek, and it will be given to you). Do we really believe that God wants us to do landscape demolition, or to drown trees? Jesus, like many good storytellers, often uses exaggeration to make his point – especially to his disciples, who were often (like us) slow to catch on.
There’s also the compelling story of the desperate father who brought his son, suffering with severe epilepsy, (understood at the time as demon possession) to Jesus’ disciples to be healed. They can’t do it. When Jesus arrives and surveys the situation, the father turns and pleads with him for help, “if you can” (Mark 9:20-27 with parallels in Matthew and Luke). Jesus replies that everything is possible for those who have faith. The agonized father cries out, “I do believe! Help my lack of faith!” Jesus cures his son. Later, away from the crowd, Jesus’ disciples ask, “Why weren’t we able to heal the poor lad?” Jesus answers, “This kind can only be driven out by prayer.”
What is faith? How does it work? Here are some thoughts. In Scripture, faith combines the elements of relationship, trust and aligning our way of seeing reality. Faith is always about God and what God is able to do. It’s not about our spiritual strength, or lack thereof. Jesus, from his intimate relationship with Abba-God, knew with unshakeable certainty, that God desires all that is good for everyone. Jesus trusted Abba implicitly. And he saw all reality from the perspective of this loving God.
We develop this kind of relationship through regular, heart-to heart dialogue (prayer) with God. (This involves a lot of listening in silence.) From prayer we can come to clarity about God’s loving desires, and we can grow in trust that God wants what is truly good for us, and for all. We begin to see ourselves, and all reality from this perspective. Our doubts begin to fade. Still, we often are unable to see things from God’s perspective. Faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties, we can pray with the suffering father, “I do believe! Help my lack of faith!”
One last consideration: In the garden on the Mount of Olives on the night before he died, Jesus prayed that the cup of suffering that he knew was imminent would pass him by. Then he added, “Not what I want, but your loving Will be done.” Abba-God did not miraculously save him from the indignity and grueling agony of arrest, ridicule, fake trials, abuse, torture, rejection or crucifixion. Did Jesus lack faith? No. Jesus trusted that Abba-God was capable of bringing some great good out of it all – even if he wasn’t able to see what it might be at the moment.
Maureen O'Reilly says:
Oh, this is such a fine explanation of that very conflicting question about faith? I really appreciated your getting us away from thinking that it must be some kind of quality which I govern, and the quantity of which I’m fully responsible! Thanks very much for dispelling those notions and getting my focus back on God!
Jana Buckley says:
This is a much-needed message about faith! Thank you for addressing it. Too often we forget that faith is not of our own doing.
Our newest comfort dog’s Bible verse is 1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.
This is a good reminder to me that our requests need to be in alignment with God’s plan.