Fiancé Noodle Soup for the Soul

Suggested Reading: Joshua 1:1-9

Not long ago, I was a little under the weather and it got me thinking about when my wife and I first started dating. Shortly after we got together, we took turns being sick. When she got sick, I brought some things by her dorm to cheer her up and, hopefully, help her feel a little better. I don't remember what all I took, but I remember what she did when I got sick. She drove just outside of town to the house I shared with two other roommates (and it was difficult to find if you weren't yet very familiar with it) and made me chicken noodle soup. Then she sat next to me on the couch and stayed with me for a while. It took me a couple days to get better, but I didn't seem to notice being sick as much when she was there with me. It was just difficult to feel bad when she was sitting next to me. Even today when I get sick, I still feel bad, but it's hard to remember that I feel bad when she sits next to me. Her mere presence is enough to boost my spirit.

Being sick or weary is not something unfamiliar to Christians. Quite often, we, like the everyone else on the planet, face difficulty and hardship, illness or trouble. Some people become disillusioned when these difficult times come, disappointed that Jesus has not, somehow, prevented these hard times. But nowhere in scripture does God promise us an easy life. Yes, there are general statements about how the lives of righteous people are blessed while the lives of the wicked are not and about how God will protect the righteous while bringing about the ultimate downfall of the wicked. But God never promised a life free from trouble and pain. What God did promise was that he would never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5).

God's promise to never leave or forsake us does not mean that we will never run into trouble. Rather, it means that God will be with us in the middle of that trouble. "So what?" you say. "I've heard all that before, but what good is that? I'm still going through all of this!"

When my future wife brought me soup and sat with me while I was sick, her presence did not heal me of my illness. But it certainly made it much more bearable. I may still have been sick, but I didn't feel as sick because someone I loved (and who loved me) was by my side. God's presence does not always take away the problems or the heartache of life, but when we are focused on God's presence in our lives instead of the trouble we face, we find heartache and trouble much easier to endure.

Whatever you are going through right now, don't trivialize it or pretend it's not as tough as it really is. Just focus on the presence of the God who loves you in the middle of it. God's presence may not make it easier, but you will find the problems are more bearable. 

Trusting Jesus to Help You Trust

Suggested Reading: Mark 9:14-29

Before I met my wife, I had very few good, romantic relationships. I'm not just talking about relationships that don't work out because no relationship really works until the one that lasts. I'm talking about hurtful relationships, relationships where I was lied to, taken for granted, cheated on, used. I got so used to being mistreated in relationships that, even after I was engaged, I still expected it to happen. So I looked for it to happen, and when I thought I had found evidence of it, I confronted my fiancé on it. I was very fortunate that she remained my fiancé. After having my paranoid accusation blown out of the water, I remember sitting with her on the tailgate of a truck as she twirled that engagement ring round and round on her finger and I prayed that she wouldn't take it off. Fortunately she kept the ring and I learned a thing or two about trust.

As hard as it is at times to trust people, I think it is infinitely harder to trust God simply because God is so far beyond us that we can't comprehend God's thoughts or plans. A loved one endures a long and painful illness. We lose a job and aren't certain how we are going to provide for our family. A friend betrays us and hangs us out to dry. Or we follow God's leading and watch as our finances slowly deteriorate. Whatever the circumstance, there are times when things simply don't seem to add up. We say we trust God. We hope we trust God. But in the middle of the circumstances, deep down, we know that we don't. We just can't see our way out, even with a miracle.

A man in Mark 9 faced a time of doubt just like that. His son had been possessed by an evil spirit for years. The spirit tortured his son, throwing him into seizures, causing the boy to fall in fires to be burned or into water so that he nearly drowned.  This man had sought out help for his son, even asking Jesus' disciples to help when they came into the region. Finally, in desperation the man came to Jesus himself and asked, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us" (Mark 9:22, NIV). Jesus' response in the next verse was to call attention to the man's doubt. "If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes."

Upon hearing Jesus' rebuke, the man's answer is at once remarkable and honest. He answers, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Sometimes, I think God wants us to answer that same way. "Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!" Rather than insincerely spouting our trust in God or deciding to try harder to believe, take your lack of faith to God and ask for help to believe.  God doesn't want lip service to our trust. God wants real, honest trust, which is often hard earned. Sometimes our trust in God can't grow until we own up to our own lack of faith, while expressing our sincere desire to believe. 

In the middle of tough circumstances, when your faith in God is shaken, admit it and give God your doubt. Sometimes, that is the only way to overcome unbelief.