Faith Journey
Sometimes its so difficult to believe that God listens to us. When things aren’t going well, when there seems to be nothing you can do, or when the hope that someone else can do something falls through, it seems like the cries and pleas for help bring nothing more than more silence. As if the sound of your cries which was making its way to the ears of God was deafened by the clouds that blanket the earth. As if God himself, maybe because of what you have done wrong in your life had turned His back on you.
In Mark, chapter eight we see the desperation of man who needed to know that God listened to Him. After so many years of the demonic attacks the father of demon-possessed son brings his child to the feet of the disciples. After so many years and so much anguish, he had looked for every possible solution. Having to take care of him was a nightmare because there would be times when he would even throw himself into fires. It was relentless, it was painful, it seemed never ending. It left him most probably, with a belief in God not much unlike our own; we say that we believe in God, but that we don’t include Him in the personal things because that doesn’t interest Him. We become numb to a belief that we had as a child that God really is interested in the our personal life.
After the disciples were unable to help the man and his son, then came Jesus. Jesus came after so much pain, after so much disappointment, after so many tears and encourages him to just believe. And he asks Jesus to help him. I can imagine him saying “Jesus, cant you see that i cant anymore? Its been so many years and nothing has changed, it has only gotten worse. I even came to your disciples and THEY couldn’t do anything, I mean come on.” So he tells him, “help me believe.” And Jesus, having the power to cast out demons, does so with the son and restores him. “Help me believe.” Doesn’t that resonate with us so well? Last night I had the opportunity to meet a man like this. With two small pistols in his back pockets he was ready to take matters into his own hands. Having lost his job, and on the brink of loosing his home and his family, this man drenched with the smell of alcohol was going to do what God wouldn’t: get the money he needed. He was going to do it at gun point, aiming it at the head of his old boss. This man no longer believed that God heard him, that God loved him, that God was there concerned for him. As I repeated these words “God listens to you” there were many screams that came out of him. The screams that this man let loose because of so much anger were echoed in the city streets. Surrendering his life to the Lord in the end on his knees drenched this time in his own tears he bowed and worshiped the Lord that he had just moments ago cursed.
Sometimes we just need to remember that God listens. We need to know that he wants to be involved in your personal life. Our God loves to be involved in our personal lives because He cares and He is concerned for us. Involve Him today. Involve Him in this life that you have here. God bless you
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