week 1

Sorry for typos ... i typed the majority of this on my phone.  Haha. So glad we are doing this even though I miss actually seeing you!

Deuteronomy 32:20
"... they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith." My first thought was, "Lord, do you ever feel like saying this about your church?" It seems that we often are children who do not trust or display faith. Others could see the church and wonder if, in fact, we really do have faith in a God who wants restoration for his world.

Habakkuk 2:4
Depending on the translation, the meaning could be "the righteous will live by his faith (belief)" or "the righteous will live by his faithfulness." Interesting to think about the different implications, but either way it is clear that we cannot live righteously without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and without Jesus' faith in God's sovereign plan and faithfulness to carry it out.

Matthew 6:30
In Matt 6:28 the "plants/grass" are referred to as "lilies of the field" and in v. 29 it says "not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." It is interesting that the mere survival of the lilies is not what is significant here, but it is the magnificence (or splendor) or the flowers. In the words of a commentary I read, "God lavishes on them a craftsman's care which the most ostentatious monarch can only envy." I think this verse is often used to only to show that God meets our basic needs, but the reference to lilies seems to imply that God not only supplies our basic needs, but also displays his glory in us (like imagery found throughout Isaiah).
This verse also made me realize that sometimes I don't trust God for the right things because it sometimes feels like he is not meeting what I think are my basic needs... guess I need to spend some time figuring out what God really thinks I need and what I have added or expected that God has not promised.  One example I continue to wrestle with is stability in my life... I keep really wanting it and thinking I need it, but God never really promises that to his believers.

Matthew 8:10
"I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. " It almost seems like it would be expected for great faith to be found among God's people and those who walked with Jesus. However, we find it in an outsider here. This made me wonder "where/when can true faith be expected?" "Where have we found it that has been surprising? "
Also, because faith is cited as the reason for miraculous healing, it made me think about how often i believe that God can act but might not. Instead of these examples of people who believed he could and could not fathom that he would not. It's challenging because I have seen God choose not to act in the ways that people believed he would and I know his plan is superior to mine (and beyond my comprehension at times. In light of that,  what does real, humble faith look like?

Matt 8:26
I actually feel a little bad for the disciples in this story because they get so much flack for not believing... but perhaps they felt like at that print Jesus would have acted by then and since he hadn't they feared he wouldn't.  Sometimes in my own life and faith the timeline that i think God is on is not really His timeline and that can cause me to believe he has chosen not to act... convicting to think about.

Matt 9:2
The faith of the community is what brought healing. .. do I surround myself with a community of strong faith?  Do I contribute to one?

Matt 9:22
I wondered what part of the woman's faith Jesus was commending.  Was it her act of racing out to touch the garment? Was it her travel to find Jesus after heading about him?  Was it persistent prayers for healing during the 12 years ? Did she ever doubt during the 12 years that she would be healed? I am pretty sure I would have just assumed I would bleed the rest of my life and been looking for Jesus to heal something more recent or seemingly temporary. .. and he would say "oh ye of little faith"

Matt 14:31
I love that Jesus reaches out to him in spite of his lacking faith.  that grace is reassuring because I will never have perfect faith. One commentary said this which I found helpful: "Peter lacked practical confidence required from those who seek supernatural provision. "We have to be willing and practical enough to believe the seemingly impossible could be possible which is what makes faith in God so unique and tricky to talk about sometimes.

I also ended this passage thinking: how often do I believe enough to get right to the brink of
seeing God's supernatural inbreaking and get too afraid to step into it? Or believe that it will actually happen?

Matt 15:28
This woman (not a Jew) grasps that faith is not only for Jesus' sake, but is part of how he seeks to bring restoration to the world. This passage really helped crystallize Matthew's use of faith throughout his book. He shows that faith is more important than exact law following and that faith at that time was stronger outside the Jewish community than in it. This speaks to Jesus' desire to extend the kingdom.