“I wish my faith was stronger.” “I wish I could believe like my grandmother.” “I don’t have much of a faith.” “My faith is so weak.” Sound familiar? Do you worry about your lapses in faith?
One of the great things about the Bible is the unflinching honesty in its stories. We are given heroes to look up to, but most of them also had terrible weaknesses, which are described without blinking. Noah got drunk; Abraham was ready to let his wife, Sarah, join the pharaoh’s harem; Samuel and David were both terrible parents; Hezekiah was a reckless show-off.
Faith’s source is God’s Word. Faith’s object is not you; it’s Christ. Faith’s power is not in the believer, but in the One who spoke the promises. When Peter looked too much at himself, he began to sink. When he was listening to Jesus, he could walk on water just like the Master. “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 43:5).