Tune Out the Doubt

I wish we could just pray for blessings, and it’s done, it’s all good, you’ll never have another ache or pain again, your teenage daughter will never roll her eyes when you ask her to do the dishes because she will be filled with purpose and her countenance will shine with the glory of God like the angelic hosts of heaven! But the fact is you may ask God to bring light to your situation and the sky keeps getting darker.   

Mark 5:21-43 deals with a situation just like that. Someone asked God to do something big, and it seemed like a miracle was going to happen, the prayer is getting answered, change is coming, the faith is rising, things are getting ready to turn around, then BAM! Things get worse.

Jairus had a sick daughter, and Jesus was on his way to heal her, but she died before Jesus got there.

So here is the paradox of walking in faith and trusting God for big things. You want to see God move in your life? You want to see God use you? You want to see God come through? On one hand you’ve got God speaking inside of you, giving you hope that it’s possible, and the Biblical promise is that all things all possible to him who believes. And God is saying it is possible, you can break through, you can break free, you can make a difference. And then you’ve got the enemy right there in the other ear saying “why even bother”.

If you’re going to walk in faith and do great things for God then you’re going to have to learn Mark 5:36a (the key word is “ignored”). There are going to be times when people around you, even the voice inside of you, says it’s not possible, that you can’t do it, that nobody has ever done it, why even bother?

Here’s what I think about those things. If it’s never been done before maybe that’s because God intends for me to do it. Maybe God has left this thing for me to do. If it’s never been done before maybe you’re alive at this very moment in time to do it.

We’ve got to learn to tune out the doubt. And that’s what Jesus did.

A little girl is dead, I don’t want to hear about that, let’s go. See, from a human perspective the situation doesn’t get much worse than this, a 12 yr old girl is dead. But God doesn’t look at our situations the same way that we look at our situations!

If the situation seems dead, if it seems lifeless, if it seems broken, if it seems there is no hope, God can resurrect it.

On the one hand is why bother, on the other hand is just believe. And the smartest thing that Jairus does in this situation is he keeps his mouth shut and does what Jesus says.

That’s a great strategy for us when we find ourselves in a situation where it looks like everything is against what God has promised, you’ve got to keep his promises in the front and center of your life, keep your mouth shut and follow Jesus back to the house.

There is still doubt, it seems like the situation is dead. Doubt is like a telemarketer, the best strategy is to never even pick up the phone.

May you displace all of your doubts with the promises of God. Just believe.