The Battle to Believe

Faith isn't always warm and fuzzy. Sometimes our walks seem to take us off course, down twisted alleyways that are dark. Journeying down these byways with a naked soul is painful, as they are littered with broken glass, nails and other destructive impediments. Sometimes it's as if our soul bleeds, wounded by the world, our own sins and even at times others in the body of Christ. Sometimes even when we try to keep our gaze on Jesus a fog, heavy and oppressive settles all around us and a darkness like no other finds it's hold on our souls. It's during those times when our resolve can falter, our focus diminish.

In our pursuit for truth it's possible to lose site of our hope in God as we can become conflicted more with the many questions we have than caught up in the awe of the revelation of God's glory. There are times when we just can't feel His presence and for those who seek God with all their hearts that can be a dreadful and dark time indeed.  Disbelief can start to invade our thoughts and infect our souls with it's unwanted whisperings.  God uses this time to stretch us and also draw us towards Him in deeper ways and will eventually spare us of our anguish when we finally release ourselves of our own egos and trust in Him with the simplicity akin to the faith a child has in his or her parent.

Many times this juncture in our faith can be described as the "Dark Night". I've written an article about it: http://ascendingthehills.blogspot.com/search/label/dark%20night

The following is a song composed and sung by a freelance pastor and facebook friend of mine, David Hayward. He is also a gifted cartoonist and artist. You'll find one of his cartoons on the bottom of this page if you scroll down :) I feel he captures much of the emotion and experience of one going through such a time. I know I could relate to this song. Check out his website: www.nakedpastor.com

God has a wonderful way of producing peace in the hearts of His children. Sometimes we make the tragic mistake of, when we fail to feel that peace, believing He has abandoned us and a real battle for belief can be a result.The good news is even when we are drawn to our knees, feeling hollow and empty, far from His presence and completely alone and wounded by others, our soul crying out "are you there?" to our God, we can be rest assured that He is! For His Word assures us He never leaves us. If we meditate on that truth  and "hang on His Word", standing firm and letting grief, loneliness, emptiness, wash over us and eventually dissipate, we will walk out of this dark time much stronger than we were when we entered it.  

Here are some Bible promises that we can cling to during such times:

Romans 8:37-38 
 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:28

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Isaiah 43:13

"From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done."

Hebrews 13:5b

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Have you ever found yourself at a juncture in your faith where disbelief crept in and threatened the stability of your walk with God? If so, what did you do, or perhaps even better put, what did God do, to help pull you out of such a dark night and into the dawn of a new day?