In an interview, Bill Johnson was posed the question, “Do you ever have doubts about God’s nature or existence?” I love his response. He says, “Those are things I don’t deal with any more. The reality of God in my life is so strong that if I doubted his existence I’d have to doubt mine. It would make no sense. It’s a foolish thought to entertain.”
I know that many, Christians included, cannot make such a statement. Many struggle at times with doubts about the existence of God. In the midst of difficulties, when it seems as if God is vacant, it’s easy to doubt. It the midst of our cries for His help, when it seems all of heaven is silent, we can easily doubt that He really cares. In the midst of the wilderness, where we struggle to hear His voice or connect with His heart, we can often wonder if He is really there.
When we cannot see something with our physical eyes, as humans, we tend to doubt it. But God has called us to live a life of faith. Faith means believing in something that we cannot see in the natural. It is to believe and trust, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in something beyond fleshly sight.
Faith in the unseen. This is the kind of faith we are called to. Most of us will never see God with our outward eyes until He calls us to Heaven. Most of us will never hear the audible voice of God until that day we, hopefully, hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But having said that, I believe God wants to encounter us so much more than we realize. He wants us to encounter Him - His presence, His love, His goodness and His voice. There is so much He longs to give us. It’s being offered to everyone of us.
I think for the most part, the problem is that we are not taking the time to listen or to wait in His presence. We are so sidetracked by the distractions of the world around us that it has become difficult to hear His voice, feel His presence or see His goodness.
I believe if we will just look - we will see and we will hear. We need to set aside the distractions around us, and take the time to be with Him, reading His word, praying and listening to His heart. He has something to say. He is longing to spend time with us and show us “great and mighty things.”
His evidence is all around us. Everywhere We just need to look. His evidence is in creation, in how He meets our needs, how He blesses us each and everyday, in how He gives us wisdom and strength.
If we would make a daily effort to live a life of gratefulness, to look and see where He is working and to take the time to be with Him to hear what He is saying, to wait in His presence, then I believe we too, will be able to say, “The reality of God is so strong in my life, that if I doubted His existence, I would have to doubt mine.”
Even with the struggles, the pain, the times of wilderness and the seemingly unanswered prayers, while we wait for the “perfect timing” of God, we can put our trust in Him. We can be in the place that we never doubt His existence, because He is so real to us.
Lord, would you give us that kind of faith? The kind of faith that does not doubt your existence or your goodness. May we encounter your presence, your voice and your love every day of our lives. May we take the time to look, to keep our eyes on you and to see you at work, both in our lives and in the world around us.
For those who do not know you as Lord and Saviour, may they this day encounter you. Show them that you are real, that you are good and that you have great things in store for them as they put their life in your hands.
