Diguising Our Doubts As Belief

“I haven’t seen God answer my prayer yet, but I’m still believing Him for the answer.” I often hear this statement made by Christians. I understand the expression and have even made it myself at times. There are times we do patiently wait for the Lord to act in our lives so that we realize the fulfillment of our prayer requests.

On the other hand, sometimes we disguise doubt under the guise of belief. Consider the situation of Moses in Exodus 14. He had just led the people of Israel out of Egypt and down toward the Red Sea. They looked back and saw that Pharaoh had changed his mind about letting them go. Now his whole army was in hot pursuit of these Jews who followed Moses.

It was a tough place to be. Behind them was an advancing army. In front of them was the Red Sea. The response of the people was that they complained and blamed Moses for their plight. “We would be better off still serving as slaves in Egypt than to come out here and die!” they argued. “What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?”

Moses must have responded to them in his most “pastoral” voice. “Don’t be scared! Just wait and watch what God does! He is going to deal with this situation. Wait and see. This will be the last day you ever have to deal with those Egyptians. Just calm down and watch what happens.” (See Exodus 14:11-14)

Then Moses must have gone behind a rock and cried to God, “What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?” We can know this is the case because of what God said to Moses is Exodus 14:15: “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell Israel to go on forward! And you – lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.”

God’s answer to Moses is clear. “Why are you crying for Me to give you something in this situation? What you need is already in your possession.”

How many times do we face situations where we pray for God to help us, then profess that we are believing and waiting on God, when the reality is that we already have in our possession all that we need. Our unwillingness to move forward in faith is really evidence of our doubts, hidden under a profession of faith.

Are you waiting for God to do something in a particular situation of your life? Maybe He is waiting for you to do something! As Christians, we have everything we need for this life through Jesus Christ. Don’t say you’re believing if you aren’t willing to act. You may be holding in your possession at this very moment all you need to solve the problem and see your prayer be immediately answered. Don’t hide your doubts under a profession of faith. Act in boldness and watch what your Father will do through you.