Week 2 Thoughts

Here are some thoughts I had about a few of this past week's verses (a little late I know). I had a lot of questions arise, but didn't really hear God answering them.

Matt 17:20 - the disciples unable to heal the boy with the demon
I had these two questions come to mind:

• How is my lack of faith preventing God's glory from being known (in my life and by others)? I know that God will show his glory regardless of my faith (or lack of faith), but wouldn't it be great to be used by God any time possible to display his glory?
• In what ways are you asking me to do the seemingly "impossible"?

Matt 21:21 - Fig Tree Withers "If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but you can also say to the mountain 'Go, throw yourself into the sea' and it will be done." It seemed that doubt is explained here as something that prevents the miraculous from taking place, but we are told that in order to have authentic relationships with God, it is okay to have doubts. The question I wrestled with here is: How are we to reconcile being okay with doubts (and even encourage people to explore areas of doubt in their lives, which I think is necessary) while we are potentially missing opportunities for God to work through us?

• In the Mark 11:22 version and the commentary I read the assurance is based on God's faithfulness, not the ability of humans to banish doubt. A few quotes that the commentary had that I found helpful were "When prayer (with the Holy Spirit's guidance) is the source of faith's power and the means of its strength, God's sovereignty is its only restriction" and "faith is the unwavering trust in miraculous divine help."

Mark 4:40 - Jesus calms the storm
This one was interesting because in Mark 4:11 Jesus says to the disciples "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you" and in Mark 4:34 it says, "He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with the disciples, he explained everything." Because of the revelation that Jesus has given to them, it is strange that right after Mark talks about this moment of doubt. It seems that Jesus' question in this context is less about whether they believe Jesus can subdue the storm, but more about whether they believe Jesus is Lord.

• Sometimes I think I get caught up on whether or not God will accomplish something in particular (my own kind of doubt), but perhaps in those times God is asking me to trust that he is Lord not trust that he can do a particular thing.