Do you have trust issues? Maybe you don’t comfortable answering that question. So, I will just put myself out there and say, I do; I have trust issues. For example, I have never participated in a trust fall exercise. You know, the exercise where two people lock their arms together and you stand with your back facing them feet together arms folded across your chest and you allow yourself to fall backward TRUSTING that the two people behind you will catch you? Yeah, I have never done that. I have been asked to participate in a trust fall exercise several times but have resolutely refused. Now, if you met my friends you might understand why I am more than a little reluctant to fall into their arms, but honestly, I can’t think of a single person I would trust enough to convince me to participate in the trust fall exercise, not even my wife. She might be the only one I would trust to have the desire to catch me, but I don’t trust that she has the strength to do it. She is just a little thing; I would likely crush her. I don’t know what childhood trauma made me this way (I’m sure there are several to choose from) but clearly, I have trust issues.
You may not feel comfortable admitting it but, I know I’m not the only one with trust issues. God willing most of you are not as cynical as I am, but I would be willing to bet that every one of you at one time or the other has had trust issues. Especially when it comes to your faith. When it comes to the goodness of your God you have had your doubts, have you not? Now I can almost hear what some of you are thinking, “not me pastor, I have never doubted the goodness of my God.” In reply I would simply say those people, “bull”. I have been observing people for forty years - sufficient time one would think to gather definitive data - and I can tell you I have never in my life met a person who at one time or the other did not doubt the goodness of God.
If you tell me that you are that person, then I would like to spend some time talking to you about pride because believers, and I mean every believer, has had their doubts about the goodness of God. For example, in our first lesson for today we read that even the great prophet Elijah had trust issues. Shortly after Elijah called down the fire of God and defeated the false prophets of Baal, we find Elijah hiding in a cave because queen Jezebel threatened to kill him. Elijah trusted that God could rain down fire from heaven to defeat 450 prophets of Baal, but he doubted that God would protect him from Jezebel. The great prophets doubted God and so did the apostles, even a prominent apostle like Saint Peter. We read about Peter’s trust issues in our gospel lesson for today. Peter and the disciples have set sail without Jesus. To catch up with His disciples Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee. Peter asks if he can join Jesus on top of the water. Having been given permission Peter takes a few steps but when a gust of wind comes Peter begins to sink. Peter trusted God enough to walk on water but doubted that God could shield him from the wind. My point is, the greatest of prophets and the most prominent of Apostles had trust issues. So, I am guessing that you do too.
Every believer has had doubts. In fact, only a believer can have doubts. Think about it, doubt implies belief. In order to doubt something, there has to be a part of you that believes it to be true. Nobody doubts fairytales because nobody believes fairytales to be true. You can only doubt that which you believe to be true. Doubting the goodness of our God does not make you an unbeliever. Unbelievers don’t doubt, unbelievers deny. If you have doubts it is because you are a believer, just like the prophet Elijah, just like the Apostle Peter.
Only a believer can be a doubter, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. In fact, being a believer means that we don’t like having doubts (maybe that is why sometimes we act like we don’t have any doubts). The believer knows that doubt can be dangerous. Doubt is the cancer of faith. It eats away at your faith; it devours belief until it is completely gone. Doubt, if left alone, mutates into denial and denial is something only an unbeliever can do. That is why throughout Scripture God repeatedly encourages believers to overcome their doubt.
Today we are going to see what we can do about overcoming our doubt. Don’t worry I am not going to ask anyone to participate in a trust fall, but I am going to ask you to take a look at our second lesson for today. In Mark 9:14-27 Jesus helps a man with serious trust issues.
Jesus descended the mountain of transfiguration to find His disciples in a heated argument with the teachers of the law. When Jesus asks what they are arguing about “17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”” Part of the reason this man has trust issues is because of people. He has put his faith in people and people have repeatedly let him down. No doubt he has sought out Jesus’ disciples because the teachers of the law let him down. No doubt he came to the disciples because he had heard about the miraculous things, they were able to do (recently Jesus had sent the disciples out two by two with authority over demons and the power to heal the sick). How disappointing it must have been for this man when these same disciples also let him down. Part of the reason this man had trust issues is because of people.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your trust issues are because of people. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have put your faith in people and been repeatedly let down. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those people who has let you down is one of Jesus’ disciples. I was talking to one of my neighbors earlier this week and he was telling me why he doesn’t go to church anymore. His story was so very familiar to me; it is a story I have heard time and time again. There are minor variations to the story but in essence some preacher, somewhere, did something that has caused them to have serious trust issues when it comes to the church. I have heard this story so often that it would be naive of me to think that I could not do the same thing to you. Indeed, it is quite likely that I have already somehow in some way let you down and if I haven’t yet, chances are, I will. I am a man. That means I am not perfect. Like you my spirit is willing (though honestly sometimes it is not) but my flesh is weak. I want to be a good pastor, but I will let you down. I want to be clear about this because far too often people tie their relationship with God to a preacher and when the preacher lets them down, they feel that God has let them down, and when they feel God has let them down they start to have serious trust issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your trust issues are because of people.
People were not the only reason the man in our lesson had trust issues. Jesus asked for the boy to be brought to Him. “20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”” Another reason this man has trust issues is because of pain. This man has spent years watching his little boy suffer. The man tells Jesus it is as if his little boy is being torn apart. He has repeatedly snatched his son from the jaws of death. He has helplessly watched his son’s little body be tortured and twisted. As a father myself, I imagine this man was in agonizing pain. Pain is another reason this man had trust issues.
Once more, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your trust issues are because of pain. I say that because I have seen our prayer list. All you have to do is take a look at the prayer list in the back of your worship folder and you will see people in pain. You will see first time grandparents who are filled with pain because their new grandson has been born without a heartbeat. You will see a mother is in pain because she is worried about the hole in her daughter’s heart. You will see a husband is in pain because he has had to watch his wife go through surgery after surgery. You will see children who are in pain because their mother is struggling to recover from a surgery. People we love, people we care about are having heart failure, suffering from infected kidney stones, dealing with Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer. People you love and care about are suffering and their suffering fills you with pain. It is clear that your life is full of pain; so full of pain that sometimes I bet it makes it difficult to see the goodness of your God and when you can’t see the goodness of your God you start to have serious trust issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your trust issues are because of pain.
His experience with people and pain caused the man in our lesson for today to have trust issues. In reply Jesus says to him, “23… Everything is possible for him who believes.” Jesus tells the man that He is not like other people. Jesus has not and will never let anyone down. Everything that Jesus says He will do, He does. There is no demon that He cannot drive out and no disease that He cannot cure. Everything is possible for Jesus. Jesus tells the man, “It is not a question of what I can do; the question is what can you believe?”
What can you believe? You believe that Jesus is working good for you in the” little things” like the orbit of the planets around the sun and the space/time continuum, but do you believe Jesus is working good for you in the “big things” like heart failure, kidney stones, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer? Do you believe that Jesus can work good in ALL things, even these things? It is not a question of what Jesus can do. It is a question of what you can believe?
“24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”” Our English does not do this sentence justice. We read that the father “exclaimed”, but the sound this man makes is an unpleasant sound. It is the sound of frustration and fear, remorse and regret, sadness and shame. It is the sound a soul makes when the people and pain of this world cause them to doubt the goodness of our God. “AHHHHHH!” “HELP ME!” “Jesus, help me.” “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” …Only a person who doubts and yet still believes can make that sound. Only a believer cries out in repentance; only a believer seeks forgiveness for the doubts that fill them. Only a believer cries out to Jesus; only a believer turns to Jesus for the strength to overcome their trust issues.
If you want to overcome your trust issues you need only do what the man in our lesson did. Turn to Jesus. Far too often we try to deal with our doubts on our own. We think we can overcome doubt by means of our own logic or reason, but our logic and reason are no match for doubt. I am not saying we should deny logic and reason. Quite the contrary. I am saying we should find logic and reason in the pages of scripture. There we learn and relearn about the plans, purposes, and promises of our good God. There we see that what Jesus can do, not only to a demon who has been torturing a little boy with seizures, but we see what Jesus did to the demanded devil himself.
I know the people and pain of this world have caused you to have serious trust issues. In order to overcome doubt all you need do is turn to Jesus. Allow your soul to make the sound that only a believer’s soul can make and say, “Jesus, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” Amen.