by Bruce Hanson

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.” Matthew 26:36-45

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”  Luke 22:39-46

Isaiah 55 tells us the following truths about God and about ourselves:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Issaiah 55:8-9

I start there because it helps me to grasp the real significance of the doubt and anxiety Jesus experienced in the Garden. He was God. He was a man.
But that humanity ought to be tremendously encouraging to us. It goes hand in hand with another verse in Hebrews.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15

That sounds pretty clinical, but it tells me that Jesus truly understands what we are going through. He was God, but He was also human. Ultimately, we all struggle with the fear of the unknown. We like tangible answers, stuff we can touch and feel. When we can’t, uncertainty sets in. And I am living proof of the bad places we can go if we allow fear and doubt to rule the roost. With macular, horrible hips, seriously compromised hearing, and non-existent teeth, Satan pushes my buttons regularly. On the hour. What can I possibly do? I don’t know, but God does!!

Jesus was hurting there in the Garden. So badly, that God sent an angel to comfort Him. The condition described above is a very real one. “Bloody Sweating” is called Hematohidrosis.  It may occur in individuals suffering from extreme levels of stress. Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form, which constrict under the pressure of great stress. Again, Jesus was hurting —  Big Time!

The linchpin of Christianity is believing in what we cannot see, what we would term FAITH. And that faith requires believing, despite not seeing.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

In His humanity, Jesus had doubts and enough anxiety for all of us put together. Yet, in the end, He modeled perfectly the way in which we should respond to life’s anxieties, doubts, and stresses.

“Yet not my will but thy will be done.” Luke 22:42

And it was.

Ending with victory over death, and victory over doubt!!

Thank You Jesus!!

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by Carolyn Schmitt

I have a lot of respect for Nicodemus. Though it isn’t recorded, he must have been in various crowds when Jesus was telling parables and healing various people. So, the more he heard and saw of this supposedly uneducated man, the more he doubted the judgment of the other Jewish leaders. So he decided to come privately and talk directly to Jesus rather than just listen to hearsay.

There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.”

“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next.
That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”

Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?”

“No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.”

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” John 3:1-21 MSG

It seems obvious that Nicodemus thought a lot about what he heard Jesus tell him that night. So he quite likely studied the scriptures to see whether he had misread or skipped over some things that confirmed what Jesus had said to him.  The next time Nicodemus is mentioned in John, he risks his reputation by reminding his fellow rulers of the law about how they should treat a person before condemning him.

Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?“

 But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean? Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”
John 7:50-52 MSG

Then after Jesus has been crucified, Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea, risk even more by caring for Jesus’ dead body and preparing it for burial, thereby rendering themselves unclean and making them unable to participate in the Sabbath on Saturday. By so doing, they branded themselves as being believers in Jesus.

After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body. John 19:38 MSG

Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it. John 19:39-42 MSG

As I see it, Nicodemus and Joseph risked much without imagining the possibility of what we know of the resurrection.  But they believed that Jesus came from God, just as they believed in God.  I like to think that after Jesus’ resurrection, both men continued to grow in their belief and trust in the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  I pray that we all will continue to study the scriptures, pray and take our doubts directly to God who knows and loves us.

 

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by Kathleen Petersen

Have you analyzed the tone of this familiar testimony?

“I accepted Jesus into my life.” 

This statement assumes the power of choice — power to welcome God’s intervention. It also carries a suggestion that we retain power to manage his influence. 

Power of choice is not a new concept. 1 Kings 16:29 launches readers into the reign of Ahab, the king who ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel from
874-853 BC. He began his reign by exerting his power of choice. He “trivialized the commands of the God of Israel” and fully embraced gods of surrounding nations. God evaluated Ahab’s choices in 1 Kings 16:30: 

Ahab…did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all [the kings] who were before him. 

One of the primary offenses that magnified Ahab’s evil deeds was his marriage to Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon, who was a wholehearted worshiper and promoter of the false Canaanite gods, Baal and Asherah. She not only eliminated (by death and exile) the kingdom-supported prophets of the God of Israel,
but replaced them with her 850 man team of prophets of those false gods.

In contrast to Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 17 introduces Elijah, one of the displaced prophets of the God of Israel. Near the beginning of Ahab’s reign Elijah proclaimed to Ahab:

“As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.”
1 Kings 17:1 NASB 

Immediately after this declaration, God directed Elijah to flee:

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 1 Kings 17:2-3 NASB

Although Elijah remained in exile and in hiding during most of Ahab and Jezebel’s reign,  Kings 17 through 2 Kings 2:11 shows Elijah’s prophetic career was far from over. While living in safe places that God supplied, the most amazing miracles were performed through Elijah. Though Elijah had only sporadically interacted with Ahab and Jezebel, Ahab attached this label to Elijah:

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, the cause of disaster to Israel?” 1 Kings 18:17 NASB

It’s no wonder Elijah felt like the ultimate outsider — one considered not only worthless but damaging to his fellow countrymen. Elijah twice made the following complaint:

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.” 1 Kings 19:10, 14 NASB

Before making this utterance, Elijah’s ventures were dramatic. He experienced an exhilarating victory over 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, followed by fulfillment of his earlier prediction of rain only after a 3.5 year drought. When Jezebel heard about these events she swore to kill Elijah. 

Elijah didn’t wait to see if she was serious. He feared for his life and promptly escaped into the wilderness. He then went into deep despair and doubted his future. His response has been interpreted as a loss of faith. But he hung in there in the midst of churning emotions.

The New Testament says this about Elijah:

Do you remember Elijah? He was a man like us… James 5:17 PHILLIPS

Are you like Elijah in every respect? Me neither. But like him, we are human. Take courage and instructions from James 5:16 PHILLIPS: 

Tremendous power is made available through a good person’s earnest prayer.

Even though none of us have been made instantly superhuman when we “accept Jesus”, we can count on being transformed by his power. Moreover, we have access to that amazing power through prayer. Doubt and fear do not have to land knockout punches in our lives. If you have time today, read 1 Kings 17 through 2 Kings 2:11 and marvel at what God did through Elijah.

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by Grace Hunter

Have you ever had a time in your life when you doubted God’s goodness? When circumstances or situations seemed to conspire against you in such a way that you could not possibly see a way out, or any way that a good outcome could result?

Naomi certainly found herself in this situation in the first chapter of the book of Ruth. She had been living in a foreign country. They had moved to Moab
because there was no food in Bethlehem, their home. First her husband died, then her two sons as well,  leaving Naomi with no means of financial support.
She had two young foreign daughters-in-law, no grandchildren and didn’t even want to be called by her name. Naomi means “pleasant”, but she asked to be called Mara, which means “bitter” -– a fitting description of her current emotional state.  “It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has gone out against me”, Ruth 1:13b NIV.

Naomi said, “I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me”, Ruth 1:21 NIV. Did you see it? She was doubting God’s goodness in her life. Grief can do that. It can block our ability to see God and His goodness. Naomi doubted she would ever be full again. She doubted she would ever want to be called Naomi again, as she could not see – in the midst of her grief – that anything could be pleasant again.

However, Naomi and Ruth went back to Bethlehem  (which means “house of food”). “So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess,
her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning”, Ruth 1:22 NIV. Naomi returned to her homeland, to a place where her relatives lived, to the land of her God. The timing of their return provided an opportunity for Ruth to work, first gleaning the barley harvest and then gleaning the wheat harvest. Naomi began to see the kindness of Boaz and had hope that he could provide for the two women in a more permanent way. Chapter 4 shows how Boaz agreed to be their kinsman-redeemer; he then married Ruth as well. After the couple had a son, the women of Bethlehem said to Naomi, “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth. Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David”, Ruth 4:14b-17 NIV.

Naomi, who could not see the goodness of God in her circumstances detailed in chapter 1 of Ruth, was full again in chapter 4. She had a family again, a grandson, and a home. What do we do with our doubts? Do we return to the God who can provide?  Do we go to our God with them? Do we search His word for answers?     

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by Aaron Bjorklund

 

Be merciful to those who doubt; Jude 22

The philosopher René Descartes famously participated in the rationalist movement by questioning everything. He questioned his own existence, concluding that he must exist because, as he famously put it, “I think therefore I am”. Some would argue that questioning one’s own existence is a fruitless exercise — fair enough. One thing that rationalist philosophy does give us is a healthy perspective on how little we can prove using the scientific method. See, faith is an inevitable human decision to trust things that we can’t test using science. We all have faith in some things, because we’ve learned that doubt and faith are both necessary to navigate the world around us. 

 

For example, we don’t scientifically test every chair we encounter; we have faith, based on past evidence, that most chairs will hold our weight. This is a faith that has grounding, but it is still faith. Yet, when we drive, we often exercise doubt when we turn left at a green light. The oncoming car may have its right turn signal on, but we want to see if it will turn before proceeding. That doubt keeps us safer on the road. 

 

This short verse in Jude reminds us that we must be merciful to those who doubt their faith in God. Doubt is a normal part of the faith journey, and doubt has the ability to drive us to seek God more. Let us not become a community of believers that forces those who doubt to hide their questions, or worse yet, to ask them to leave the church. God’s church should be the safest, most merciful place to doubt. Doubters are not villains. They are us. 

 

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