Written by Dawn Rutan
In his book Life in Christ: Lessons from Our Lord’s Miracles and Parables, Charles Spurgeon has a chapter on Jesus’ encounter with the blind men in Matthew 9. When the men cry out for mercy, Jesus asks them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Spurgeon writes,
“Faith is pointless if you only believe in the Lord’s power over others but declare that you have no confidence in him for yourself. You must believe that he is able to do whatever concerns you; or you are, for all practical purposes, an unbeliever… Each man is accountable for himself. You must be willing to be honest with yourself. Jesus asks each one, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’”
It seems that many Christians tend to trust God for salvation, but then assume that everything else is their own responsibility. I’ve been convicted by this question myself. As I prayed about a particular issue and wondered why God hasn’t intervened as I wish, I found myself confronted by the Word—“Do you really believe that I, the Lord and Creator of the universe, am perfectly capable of dealing with this problem in your life?” After thinking about it, my honest answer is, “I know I should believe that and I want to believe that. Lord, help my unbelief!”
An added challenge to our faith is that God’s answers don’t always look the way we think they should. Rather than leveling the path ahead, He walks with us through the valleys and over the mountains. Rather than removing a difficulty, He uses it to make us depend more on Him.
Spurgeon makes this comment, but I’m not sure I fully agree with him:
“You will wonder where the burden has gone and look around and find that it has vanished, because you have looked to the Crucified One and trusted all your sins to him. The bad habits you’ve been trying to conquer, which have forged fresh chains to bind you, will fall off you like spiders’ webs. If you can trust Jesus to break them and surrender yourself to him to be renewed by him, it will be done and done immediately.”
Sometimes the chains don’t seem to fall away—so is that due to lack of faith, failure to pray, or is there some other lesson to be learned? I do believe that surrender to Christ and seeking His aid is a daily, hourly, and sometimes even moment by moment need. We have an adversary who loves to trip us up. Spurgeon says of our enemy:
“[Satan] has spent thousands of years perfecting his skill to make Christians doubt their faith in Christ, and he understands it well. Never answer him. Refer him to the one who speaks for you. Tell him you have an Advocate on high who will answer him… The best evidence a man can have that he is saved is that he still clings to Christ.”
So when the darkness lingers, when the valley seems too long or the mountain too steep, when the briers start to choke or the chains don’t fall off, cling to Christ. Remember His presence, provision, and protection. Remind yourself that He is able to do all things well (Mark 7:37), and every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). Rest in Him.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV).
© 2017 Dawn Rutan. The views stated may or may not reflect the beliefs of the pastor or leadership of Dulin’s Grove Church.
