Have you ever found yourself in a Faith, Doubt, Shame and Blame cycle? You know, the one where you have so much faith that you feel like NOTHING can stop you and God will do ANYTHING through you. Then when God doesn’t show up right when expected, or things don’t go as planned, you begin to doubt, which leads you into a joyless spiral of feeling shame for not having faith and self-blame because now you feel it’s your fault it won’t happen.
Well, I definitely have, and more times than I would like to admit. However, today God reminded me of a couple stories in the Bible about this exact topic. The stories of Abraham and Sarah and Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Abraham and Sarah were promised a child in their old age, but as doubt began to set in, Sarah decided to take things into her own hands and gave Abraham one of her slaves to bare them a child on her behalf. Did this doubt take away the promise God had given them? No, but it certainly robbed them of some joy. When Sarah found out she would have a baby, she told Abraham to send her slave and his son Ishmael packing. She didn’t want any competition for her son’s inheritance. This was very painful for Abraham. He had a son who he loved very much that he could never see again, and even though the Bible doesn’t say it, I’m sure he blamed himself a little for the lack of faith that put him in this situation. Nonetheless, God had kept his promise and even though their destiny was still intact, their lack of faith stole some of their joy in the process.
Then we have the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth who received a similar promise from God. When Zechariah heard that he would have a son in his old age, he laughed and due to his lack of faith, the Angel Gabriel took away his ability to speak. Can you imagine the frustration that must have caused Zechariah? Nevertheless, their son came to them as promised and Zechariah regained his ability to speak and was able to joyfully share in the fulfilled promise God had given them. His lack of faith didn’t destroy his destiny either, but again it robbed him of some joy in the journey.
I tend to do this. I begin to doubt that God will come through with what he has clearly promised. I then begin to worry and blame myself for somehow destroying my destiny. Does it actually destroy my destiny? No, he is faithful and always comes through, but I can tell you that worry, doubt, and blame has stolen my joy on many occasions. The truth is that God often has something wonderful to reveal to us in the journey to a fulfilled promise. He wants us to trust him fully and just sit back and watch him work wonders for us.
When we approach a God-sized problem with no faith, we then feel the need to take matters into our own hands and alone we can only get so far and can often cause great trouble for ourselves. God showed me that by walking in faith with him and believing his promises are true, then we can walk with him in peace and joy and can truly enjoy every step of the journey. This is what he wants for us, his beloved children.
There’s an image that has been spoken over me many times throughout the years. It takes place in a field. I’m a little girl in a white dress and Jesus is there with me. He’s twirling me around and laughing with me; running with me through the wildflowers. This is how he wants his beautiful children to live; joyfully, trusting that he has something good planned for us in everything we face. Approaching everything with a childlike faith; he wants us to trust him with all our of hearts and dance through the pressures and hard times we may face; knowing that it’s all in his hands. He didn’t make us for worry. He didn’t make us for shame. He made us for a life of royalty with him.
Luke 1:37 tpt “Not one promise from God is empty of power, for nothing is impossible with God!”
Philippians 4:6-7 tpt “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.”
The story of Abraham and Sarah Genesis 16-17,21
The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth Luke 1:5-25,57-80
