Believing
Instead of New Year’s resolutions, I have one word that I focus on for each year. This isn’t something that I just draw out of a hat. I’ve heard some say that their word for the year chooses them. I’ve said that myself, but in truth, God gives me my word. I usually know what it is by October or November of the previous year. It always comes about through my study and work on the word for that year. God is peeling back the layers and has something else for me to learn. Some things take a year, some take longer. For the past three years, I had three different words: hope, abound, and believing. All are from Romans 15:13: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Sometimes I am a slow learner! I would like to share some thoughts with you from my word from last year, believing.
One day while folding laundry I was listening to a Revive Our Hearts podcast series on perfectionism entitled “When Life Doesn’t Line Up: The Crushing Burden of Perfectionism.” Perfectionism is something I have struggled with over the years, so out of curiosity, I began to listen. The first episode, A Matter of Worship, was a good reminder to me of how far I’ve come. I also saw a few areas that I needed to work on. The second episode, I’ll Never Measure Up, stopped me in my tracks.
The episode was a discussion. One of the women asked the question, “Is it possible that a root of perfection is unbelief? That we are not trusting God when we are rising up to make everything around us go exactly as we think it needs to go? Are we, at the root struggling with unbelief?” The author of the book they were discussing responded, “I think that is very perceptive because one of the reasons that I need to control things and I need to make everything around me just the way I think it ought to be is because I don’t have confidence that God is going to do good.”
As they continued to discuss this and situations where we don’t have the confidence that God is going to do good, I couldn’t help but think of times when that is true in my life. Every time I try to manipulate circumstances for the outcome that I think should take place, I don’t have the confidence that God is going to do good. Every time I nag my husband to do something the way I think it should be done, I don’t have the confidence that God is going to do good. Every time I am trying to work the budget from every possible angle to make sure there is enough money for what is coming up or warn an adult child about a possible terrible outcome to some plan or action on their part, I don’t have the confidence that God is going to do good.
I would tell you that God is good. I would tell you that everything He does is good. After thinking a large part of that day on that podcast, I realized that there are circumstances where my thoughts and actions are showing that I don’t believe that like I thought I did. And so, the Lord put His finger on something that He wanted me to know, a place in my heart where I wasn’t believing that He is good and that what He does is good—even when it isn’t what I would have chosen.
Life can be so overwhelming. Sometimes I may be wondering where God is in all of the things that are going on in my life and the world. I believe that God is all-powerful and that He loves me. I believe as the children sing, “there’s nothing my God cannot do.”But will He?
“Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.” ~Psalm 119:68
The psalmist here is appealing to the character of God. This is throughout Psalm 119. He talks of His faithfulness, His compassion, His righteousness, and His mercy. These are all things that make God and everything that He does good. It’s all about Him and His character, not me and the circumstances I am facing. Jesus talked about faith as small as a mustard seed. These seeds are so small, that I can hardly see them. God blesses that amount of faith.
I think David sums up my thoughts perfectly in Psalm 27:13. “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” And his admonition in verse 14, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
I recently finished teaching through Claudia Barba’s When Christ Was Here. One of the last lessons was on Jesus and People in Pain. In John 11, Lazarus has died and Martha and Mary, along with others, are grieving. All through this chapter, Jesus makes belief an issue. In John 11:14-15, when Jesus heard of Lazarus’ illness, He delayed so that they might believe—so that their weak faith would be strengthened. In verse 26, Jesus asked them if they believed the words, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” I imagine that He asked this question because their actions did not demonstrate their belief. In verse 40, Jesus reminded Martha that if she would believe, she would see the glory of God. Then in verse 42 in a moment of triumph over death, Jesus prayed “that they may believe that thou hast sent me.”
In December, I was reading through a Christmas devotional by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. On one of the days, she talked about Luke 1:45. Elizabeth is speaking about Mary and says, “Blessed is she that believed.” Nancy says:
“The word translated ‘blessed' in Luke 1:45 is a different word than the ‘blessed’ of verse 42, the one that equates to eulogy (high praise). This one (‘Blessed is she who has believed’) is the Greek word makarios, meaning ‘one whom God makes fully satisfied'—not because of favorable circumstances, but because God Himself provides the satisfaction. To be makarios is to be fully content, even in situations that are less than ideal, solely because God lives in us through Christ. In other words, it’s the state of being saved. No matter what we are called to endure as Christians, we have all we need … because we have Jesus.”
After meditating on something, I often write a paraphrase. You could say: God has made her who has believed fully satisfied with Himself.
Matthew 21:22 addresses believing in prayer: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Many times I have cried out to the Lord while not necessarily believing that I will receive. I have been convicted about that and am working on changing it. One result is that I have found myself talking to the Lord more and more. Another result is that I can see that I have received. I’m not talking about the Lord giving me everything I thought I needed or wanted. He hasn’t answered every request the way I hoped or in the timing I desired; however, I am finding that the dissatisfaction of what I think is “unanswered prayer” is fading and that I am becoming more satisfied with God Himself. I have all I need because I have Jesus!
We may not get everything we request in the time we request it, but we can become more satisfied with God.
Every time we choose to believe that God is good, we see more of His goodness.
Every time we choose to believe that God is faithful, we see more of His faithfulness.
Every time we choose to believe that God will provide, we see more of His provision.
Every time we choose to believe that “God loves me” personally—not just God loves the world—we see more of His love for us individually.
This is God blessing the one who has believed. This is the “joy and peace in believing” that we find in Romans 15:13.
We know that Mary experienced this satisfaction because of her beautiful song in Luke 1:46-55. Most scholars believe that she was around 16 years old!! She knew her God! And she didn’t have a printed Bible full of His words like we do.
A prayer that I often pray is, “Lord, you have told me that if I would believe, I would see Your glory. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” This prayer is based on John 11:40 and Mark 9:24. I have seen the Lord help me in my unbelief. So many times I pray about things and then pick the burden back up instead of leaving it with the Lord whose shoulders are so much bigger than mine. I want to get to the place in my life where I am praying believing that I will see the glory of God!
Kim Melton lives in Nagoya, Japan where her husband is the missionary pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. They serve under Baptist World Mission. They have three adult children and one grandchild. She teaches Bible studies and ESL classes to adult women. She enjoys reading and sewing, especially quilting.
You can read more about her life in Japan at Life in the 10/40 Window, 2cor5fifteen.wordpress.com.
