[Original Post Date: December 15, 2021]
“I feel so lost. Life is difficult right now and I don’t know where God is…or how I fit into His scripturally proclaimed purpose…” says a friend across the table. Immediately, you know what to say: “Friend, God has chosen you to be a part of His grand story. You are chosen and loved by Him. Although you feel lost and life is not going how you envisioned it, I know this season exists for a reason.” As the words leave your lips, you are confident that those words are truth for her hurting heart. However, in a moment of being real with yourself, you aren’t sure that truth is your truth as well.
As we navigate understanding the attributes of God and who He says we are in Scripture, we sometimes lose the connection between believing in our heart who God says we are and having only a head knowledge of these truths. Often when I am convicted of this, I am reminded of the father in Mark 9. He brings his mute, possessed child to be healed. The father asks Jesus if he can do anything and begs Him to take pity on them and help them. I can only imagine (in my Hollywood movie mind) Jesus looking appalled and questioning, “If you can? I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’m Jesus, the I AM!” Jesus doesn’t get quite that dramatic, at least not how Mark articulates the story. Jesus does ask though, “If you can?” He then follows with: “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
What happens next?
I absolutely love the father’s response and how God chose this to be the next line to be in Scripture. This father is desperate, and he just lays it all out there. The father exclaimed, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!” In the first moment of reading that exclamatory statement, your mind may jump to the thought that the statement seems counterintuitive. This father knew in his head that Jesus could heal but openly admits he needs help believing it. Pause and reflect on this and about the beginning of this read. I know (head knowledge) that I am chosen, loved and His, but do I believe (heart transformation) I am chosen, loved and His?
If you are anything like me, once I have a revelation of something I need to improve on, I seek out resources and self-help books to guide me in the right direction. These things in and of themselves are not bad, but we need to start at a different source. We are missing the beginning of where the life-giving, soul-changing, Truth comes from. We often skip having the conversation with God, Himself, about the conviction first. Our human nature pulls us to go straight to the tangible resources we can hold in our hands or see with our eyes. But there is a better way.
Recognizing the need to transition our head knowledge into our hearts, and truly having a transformative belief of who God says we are, is the eighteen-inch journey. This is not easy, nor do I think in this lifetime it will ever be fully accomplished, but God is calling us into a journey where we may stumble throughout as we strive to know Him more. This is where hope is found, and lives are changed.
Today, join me in moving. Can we move inch by inch? Let us move from what we know in our heads, to what we believe in our hearts. Can we give God our first? This is the beginning of the eighteen-inch journey that we all desperately need in our lives. Our loving Father wants this both for you and for me… and with that, I can say I believe.
