September 4, 2024 Devo

Jesus has a way of asking questions that can pierce you all the way to the core. That is if you take time to really process them. Let’s sit with one of those questions today. It’s the question that Jesus poses to Peter as He pulls him up out of the water. And it’s a doozy. “Why did you doubt me?”
I have to be honest and tell you that when I read that question and asked God to speak to me, it was like letting the Lord peel back the layers of my soul. Why DO I doubt Him sometimes? The answers were more painful for me to admit than I imagined. Let’s dig up the roots of that a bit.
Sometimes I doubt Him because I’ve allowed myself to become so busy and preoccupied that I’ve lost the sense of His Presence. It’s not that I don’t know in my head that there’s a God who is “out there,” it’s just that I’ve allowed myself to drift to where I don’t sense Him HERE. I think that’s one of the reasons that I’ve found myself sometimes saying, “Where ARE you, Lord?” He didn’t move. I did.
Sometimes I doubt Him because I’m too used to being in control. I do really well trusting God with stuff that I feel I can influence and manage, or in places that I feel comfortable navigating. But truthfully, those aren’t the places where I NEED faith. Where I doubt is when I’m facing all those things that I have NO control over or in those places where I have absolutely NO idea what to do or which way to go. Lack of control causes a LOT of doubt.
The hardest one for me to admit is that I doubt God because I internally doubt His love for me. Honestly, my doubt about His love is because I struggle at times to love myself. I’ve failed so many times. I have so many flaws. My lack of love for me causes me to doubt God’s love for me. Why would God answer my cry for help when I don’t believe I’m worthy of His help?
There you have it. That was my journey today. How about you? How would you answer that question from Jesus, “Why did you doubt me?” I challenge you to sit with Him a while, and let Him dig up the roots of the doubt you deal with from time to time. You might make some discoveries like I did today. And maybe, as we dig up the roots of our doubts, something else might happen. We’ll let go of some of our fears, draw a little closer in our walk with Him, and experience His love in ways like we never have. That’s when we’ll BELIEVE. That’s God’s Word for you today.