This is the message in the Wheatland Parish from Sunday, October 13, 2013. The Bible verses used are Matthew 8:23-27 and Isaiah 40:25-31.
This parish has been through a lot over the last several weeks. Over the last six weeks, we've had six funerals in this parish, and that does not count two funerals that are coming up but have not taken place yet. We've also had numerous hospitalizations, some of them quite serious. We have two people with ties to this parish who have the West Nile virus. We've had people with all sorts of other serious health problems.
That's an awful lot. And of course, that's just the people with ties to the United Methodist church. If we include the others in our communities, people who may not be part of our church but are still our friends and neighbors, we've had more of all those things: more funerals, more hospitalizations, and more other serious health problems.
And of course, there's more. There are people with continuing health concerns. There are people who don't live here, but who are important to us, who have serious health concerns, too.
And that's not all. Health is only one of the things that can affect our lives. There have been natural disasters. Our neighbors not far to the west went through a blizzard that killed a lot of livestock. The economy is still poor. We have job concerns. We have stresses and strains in our relationships. There's an old saying that God does not give us more than we can handle, but it sure seems like that theory gets put to the test sometimes. Some people in our church and in our community have had to go through more than any human being should have to try to handle.
So what do we do? How do we handle it all? What do we do when we feel like we're trying to handle more than we can handle already, and then something else happens on top of it all?
Well, you know what I'm going to say. As we continue our sermon series on the power of prayer, I'm going to suggest that what we should do in that situation is pray. One of the ways prayer has power is that it gives us strength to handle more than we could handle otherwise.
Now, as I say that, many of you probably are nodding your heads in agreement. Because that's one of the stock beliefs of Christians, that God gives us strength, and that the strength God gives us helps us handle the hard things of life.
But it's one thing to agree with that, and another thing to really believe it. It's one thing to say the words, but it's another thing to really feel them in our hearts and in our souls. Because many of us have had times when we don't think our prayers are doing much good at all. We've had times where we've prayed and it seemed like nothing happened. And we've had times where we've thought, well, what's the point of praying anyway? If God is who God's supposed to be, then God already knows what's going on. What good is praying going to do?
I understand that. When we've never tried prayer, it can be hard to believe that it will really do any good to pray. We say a few words to God and we expect—well, what? God to magically cure us or our friends? God to bring our loves ones back from the dead? God to just give us a new job or fix our relationships? God to wave a magic wand and suddenly all our problems are over? It's pretty hard to believe that. I understand why you might be reluctant to try prayer.
And if you've tried praying and feel like to did not do any good, well, I can understand that, too. I've been there. I've had times when it felt like my prayers went nowhere, like they just bounced off the ceiling and came back to me. Like God either did not care or else God was just not there at all. That's hard. When we feel that way, it's pretty hard to believe that prayer has any power at all.
It seems like the times when we're at our weakest can be the times when it's the hardest to rely on God. We feel like, well, God has to know how I feel. In fact, I've told God how I feel. And God has not done anything about it. So why should I rely on God now?
That's how the people of Israel felt in our reading from Isaiah. Israel had been overthrown. It lost its independence. It was controlled by Assyria. The people had prayed for God to save them, to rescue them, to take care of them, but it had not happened. And so, as our verses say, the people are now saying, “My way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God.”
And Isaiah says, what are you saying that for? Don't you know who God is? “The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary...He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” He says, humans may get tired and may stumble, but not God. And then he says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
We're not told how the people of Israel responded to Isaiah's message. And maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe the point is not how the people of Israel responded. Maybe the point is how you and I respond.
So, what do you think? What do you think of Isaiah's answer? Is it enough for you? When you have trouble relying on prayer, or you think it won't do any good, does that answer satisfy you? Is it enough to realize who God is, and to think about God's strength? Is that enough to make you and I trust that God will hear our prayers, and that God will answer them in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time?
These are legitimate questions. And it's not enough to just respond the way we know we “should” respond. It's something we've got to actually mean. Because when we're down, when we're weak, when we feel beaten up by life, platitudes won't cut the mustard. We need real help: help for our minds, help for our hearts, and help for our souls.
If it's not enough, I understand. I assume God understands, too. But as I thought about this, there was a phrase from the Bible that kept coming to my mind. It's a phrase Jesus used sometimes to describe his disciples. You heard it in our reading from Matthew this morning. It's a phrase I think we misunderstand sometimes. Jesus would sometimes refer to his disciples, usually after they'd been scared about something, as “you of little faith.”
We think of that phrase as Jesus being critical of the disciples, and maybe he was, but I don't think that's it. I think, at least sometimes, Jesus just used it to describe the condition we're in as human beings. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we think we believe, no matter how much we try to trust God, when we get scared, when things go wrong, when we really get up against it, we're like the disciples. We are people of little faith.
Jesus never got mad at his disciples for being people of little faith. He may have been a little disappointed sometimes, he may have been a little sad sometimes, but he never got angry with them. He never chewed them out for being people of little faith. And you know what else? He never gave up on them, either. He kept working with them. He kept trying to teach them, trying to encourage them, trying to strengthen their faith.
And Jesus never gives up on us, either. Jesus keeps working with us. He keeps trying to teach us, trying to encourage us, trying to strengthen our faith, just like he did with the disciples.
So, when we have trouble dealing with something, and we feel like that makes us someone of little faith, you know what it really makes us? It makes us normal. Because when we're struggling, when we get scared, when we feel like we have more than we can handle, we all turn into people of little faith. It's okay.
But here's what I'd like to suggest. When you feel like a person of little faith, and you think prayer won't do any good, pray anyway. If you feel like you've already prayed and nothing happened, pray anyway. And keep praying. Grab hold of the “little faith” that you have. And don't let it go. Trust God with that “little faith”. See what God can do with that “little faith” if you'll just trust God with it.
God has not given up on you. God has not abandoned you. God is still there. Your way is not hidden from the Lord, and your cause is not disregarded by God. God can take even our little faith and give it great power. And God will do that when we ask God to do it. And that is a big part of the power of prayer.
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