Try Me
I have a weekly video blog called Rhoda’s Reflection, and on July's reflection, I was under the weather. My oldest daughter, so graciously, offered to do the reflection for me. In that particular episode, she challenged the listeners to activate their faith by "trying God".
In life, it can be easier to try new things when you’ve seen positive outcomes with other people's experiences with it. For example: when you have the desire to lose weight, you are downloaded with all of this information about weight loss. You are either seeking it out or you are starting to get random social media advertisements via posts or paid sponsored ads all with the aim of getting you to try this "great weight loss pill", or this "amazing stomach flattening girdle". What causes you to try those products are the results that others are receiving from the products; their testimonials. Their weight loss testimonies cause us, as consumers, to give it a try. I can speak for myself and say that I’ve been caught up in the hype purchasing many of those products. However, I didn’t get the same results as the actors in the infomercials. Now, I’m not saying the products were a hoax. What I am saying, though, is that I didn’t get the same results! The thing that drew me to the products (the results I saw on individuals) was the same thing that I failed to account for (individual results may vary). Each person trying the products will get a different response or result because each person's body makeup is different.
What would it look like if we took that same application and applied it to our faith? What if we looked at the Bible as an infomercial in our minds? We can get the same results by applying the same principles we see via testimonials we read about. The Bible says that a mustard seed amount of faith is all that is required for each person to have. Compared in size to just about anything else, a mustard seed is minuscule. Matthew 27:19-20 (NIV) says, “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out”? He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Let’s make this scripture an infomercial.
Narrator: "Have you ever had a big problem, but only had a small application to get the problem resolved. Then try Mustard Seed Faith. Only a tad bit will do you. You won’t need a huge amount. Just apply a tiny amount to get the job done. Let the mustard seed work for you."
In 1 King 17, the Bible gives insight to another parable where Elijah is talking to a woman at the gate of Zarephath who is gathering sticks. Elijah asks her for a cup of water and a morsel of bread. The lady spoke to Elijah saying that she didn’t have any bread, just oil, and some flour. She was gathering the sticks to make a fire so that she could make the bread that she and her son were going to eat before they die. Then Elijah told her to continue to go home, but make him some bread first, then take what was left for her and her son to eat. She did as Elijah told her to do. When it was all said and done, not only did she have enough for him, but she had more than enough; her cupboards never ran dry.
Now, this would be hard to turn into an infomercial, but it is a great example of applying the little faith you have in the Word of the Lord to you. She listened to the man of God, and it yielded a great reward.
The challenge that we run into is in our believing. Sometimes we just don't believe that "it" could happen for us. We see the desired results in the Word, but cannot properly apply the Word (the Instructions) to our everyday interactions.
So, my challenge for you is to "try God", try faith. Let your burdens become His burdens. Let your pain become His pain. The Bible says in Matthew 11:30 (NIV), “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” You’ve tried everything else and didn’t get the results you were hoping for. What do you have to lose? There aren’t "3 easy payments" you need to make. It's one payment of "belief"; belief that the Word works and will work in your circumstances. Try God. Try faith, and watch it work for you as it worked for others before you.