“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT

I was contemplating the challenging parts of the Bible as I wrote my blog on Monday. I’m sure you can relate. Those scriptures that don’t fit our concept of God or promises that we believe but can’t adopt for ourselves. How many of us are open enough to admit it?

The father in the passage from Mark did. He believed enough to ask Jesus to free his son from possession, but admittedly faltered in his faith.

Here is one I believe but have trouble owning.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

From the way I act and the way I feel sometimes, my unbelief raises its ugly head. The spirit I want to possess, the one in this promise, slips through my fingers. It could be solidly held, but my old way of thinking gets in between me and Jesus, and I end up like the father saying, “If you can,” even when I know He can and already has. Stupid human-ness. So how do I believe?

I went to a women’s retreat years ago and the speaker taught one thing I’ll never forget. If you are having trouble understanding a scripture or why God would do something, you need only to get to know God more. The level of our understanding increases with our knowledge of, and relationship with God. As we get to know Him, we see His great and awesome character. The problem we have is His infinite nature is only grasped in small increments by our finite minds.

More knowledge brings more faith. We needn’t fear the hard passages, we just need more information. God is not chaotic. He is purposeful.

I haven’t quite decided if I want to make this a series of looking at scriptures I struggle with. Would that help you? Do you have scriptures you’d like to explore? Let me know in the comments or on my Facebook page.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

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