Sometimes the hardest part about believing God is reconciling what God says with what experience has taught us. You have prayed in faith, and it still hurts. You have trusted that it will be alright – and someone still left. You believed things would work out – and they did not work out the way you expected.
After enough disappointment, believing again can begin to feel dangerous. Unaddressed difficult and traumatic experiences can influence how we interpret ourselves, other people, our circumstances, and even God. These experiences can teach us: Do not get your hopes up. Do not trust too much. Expect the worst–all to protect yourself.
These responses may have helped us survive difficult seasons, but if not properly addressed, what protected us yesterday can limit how we live today. That’s why Romans 12:2 (NLT) teaches us to “let God transform [us] into a new person by changing the way [we] think.” God is not asking us to pretend that painful things do not happen. He is inviting us not to allow what happened to have more influence on how we live than what He has said.
This is where faith in the Word of God must become more than inspirational quotes. Believing God sometimes means choosing His Word while your experiences are still arguing with it. Abraham had circumstances that said the promise was impossible. Peter had a similar experience that said stepping out of the boat made no sense. The father in Mark 9 believed enough to bring his son to Jesus while still admitting, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24, NLT)
Maybe that’s where you are. You believe, but you have been disappointed. You have faith, but you are tired. You love God, but part of you is afraid to hope again. You do not have to deny any of that to take your next step of faith. Bring it to God. Jesus extends an invitation in Matthew 11:28 (NLT) to ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’
Healing begins when we allow God to meet us in the places where life taught us something contrary to His character and His Word. As we bring our debts, doubts, worries, stresses and fears to Him as opposed to allowing them to keep us from Him (like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3), the Holy Spirit helps to renew our thinking to what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable (Philippians 4:8). As a result, we learn that our past experiences can inform us without governing us. Your story is not over!
Your next chapter does not have to begin with having enormous faith. Rather, it can begin with the mustard seed of one courageous choice: Believe God Again.
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