Faith Like a Child

I have been posting a lot of my 2007 journal entries, obviously, but that's not because there's nothing new! It's just because it's still all swirling in my head or in my journal. I have a time set aside each day I'm home from 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon that is "discretionary time." I'd like to use that to get some of these thoughts typed out, but things have been distracting me lately. Please pray with me that I'll be able to use that time to get these thoughts actually typed out - as much for me as for anything else. I learn better once I've regurgitated it in written form! Meanwhile, here's my last major entry from 2007...

(Written Sept 22, 2007)

This week I’ve been studying in Matthew 8 & 9. These chapters follow immediately on the heels of what we refer to as The Sermon on the Mount, and I have read these chapters more times than I can count. Still, this morning, something new struck me. Of the ten miracles mentioned in these two chapters, seven of them directly refer to the level of faith in relation to the result of the miracle. Let’s look at those seven for a moment.

The first is the leper at the beginning of chapter eight. “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” The leper knew Jesus could do it, but He also knew that the will of God was in play. Wow! What faith!

Secondly, we have the centurion whose servant was sick. He not only believed that Jesus could heal, but he trusted in the unseen. He trusted in the fact that Jesus had command over the forces of heaven! His faith stretched beyond faith in a man. His faith stretched to the power of the Ruler of the universe.

The fourth miracle (yes, I intentionally skipped the third – don’t worry, we’ll be back!) deals with the faith of friends on behalf of a paralytic, and their faith lead to the healing. Nothing is even said of the paralytic’s faith at all! That gives me comfort knowing that even though my own faith may be weak at times, as long as I have my loving prayer warriors around me, faith is still in play! No wonder God directed that we not go through this life alone, but shows in Scripture that we need to fellowship with our fellow believers.

Fifth and sixth we see the bleeding woman and the synagogue official. The bleeding woman grasped the idea that Jesus’ very presence indicated power. She realized that she could take action on that presence and find healing. Could it be that sometimes the answer is simply for us to act on our faith? There are several different versions of the story of the synagogue ruler, but in Matthew the story records that the ruler already knew his daughter had died, but still knew that Jesus could bring her back with a touch from the Master. There was no earthly solution, but Jesus was THE solution.

Finally, the seventh miracle is the healing of two blind men who followed Jesus, begging Him for mercy until He responded to them. They had persistence. Jesus didn’t appear to even acknowledge them at first. But they kept calling and begging. Jesus continued on and they pursued Him. Finally, he asked, “Do you believe that I can do this?” That in and of itself could be a lesson in that so often we lose faith the more we wait. We begin to wonder if He really can do anything for us since He has seemed to ignore us for so long. But, that’s beside the point here.

In each situation, these were people who had heard of Jesus by reputation. They might have listened in on His teachings, but they weren’t His regular followers. They simply believed based on what they’d heard. They trusted based on the fact that they needed help and knew the help they needed was beyond what the world could offer.

Now let’s go back to the third miracle. The disciples were Jesus’ closest friends. They spent day after day with Him. They received intimate and personal teaching from Him. Every miracle He’d performed, every teaching He’d spoken, every time He’d withdrawn to spend time with His Father they had seen. They knew what He was capable of. But, if you notice, this is the only miracle in the entire series of “faith” miracles where a rebuke for lack of faith must be expressed. “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Jesus had marveled at the centurion’s faith. He had empathized with the faith of the paralytic’s friends. He had healed because of the faith of others. But, his own disciples had to be rebuked for their lack of faith.

How often is this us? How often do brand new believers express an abundance of faith, and yet those of us who have walked with Jesus for years through thick and thin still struggle with trusting Him? When Jesus does not answer us immediately, how often do we just give up and believe that He’s not going to be there for us rather than pursuing Him relentlessly? Maybe this is what the “faith of a child” means. Maybe it means we are to believe no matter what the circumstances or how long we have to wait simply because we know He’s able. Period. May our faith never grow old.