“Amazed at Their Lack of Faith” by Melanie Rigney
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. Their children are bold of face and stubborn of heart—to them I am sending you. You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD. And whether they hear or resist—they are a rebellious house—they shall know that a prophet has been among them. (Ezekiel 2:3-5)
Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy. (Psalm 123:2)
That I, Paul, might not become too elated, because of the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:4-6)
Piety
Lord, grant me the faith and courage to say yes to the mighty deeds You desire to perform in me.
Study
Think about it: Jesus, the Son of the Omnipotent Father, a member of the Holy Trinity. And yet, a few people who don’t believe Him manage to shut down His power. How can that be? I mean, can’t Jesus do anything He desires?
Not if we don’t want Him to. The invitation is still there, of course. It’s always there. But we are always free to turn Him down. And sometimes, we don’t even see that we’re doing it:
- We turn Him down when we hate rather than love our persecutors.
- We turn Him down when we cut out of our lives family and friends whose political views aren’t in harmony with ours, ignoring all that we have in common.
- We turn Him down when we say no to volunteer activities that present themselves because we’d rather be home binge-watching a series.
- We turn Him down when we can hear Him knocking at our soul, suggesting that we let Him in to help us, but we ignore Him because we’re just fine with being a victim, being an abuser, being a gossip, being judgmental.
We can come up with all kinds of excuses for not letting Him perform mighty deeds. His mighty deeds always involve change, and change is difficult. Change, especially spiritual change, costs us financially, emotionally, and mentally. But saying yes is the only way to grow closer to Him. Saying yes, even amid all the reasons we think we should say no or not right now, opens us to His grace.
Action
Spend fifteen minutes in silence with the Lord. Listen to what He’s asking of you.
Image credit is Geralt (https://pixabay.com/en/users/
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