Devotion by Pastor Yah Lan
“We wonder why we don’t have faith; the answer is, faith is confidence in the character of God and if we don’t know what kind of God God is, we can’t have faith.” – A.W. Tozer
On a fateful day in September 2019, I was with a dear friend when she received a bad news in her doctor’s office. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in an advanced stage. She was young and less than a year away to becoming a clinical psychologist. It was her dream to help those suffering from mental illnesses. She was also looking forward to starting a family with her husband and building a wonderful future together. A mere six months after her diagnosis, she went home to be with the Lord. It was one of the most painful seasons of my life. I had so many questions for God. In my years of walking with God, I’ve certainly questioned His ways at times and struggled deeply with outcomes I did not understand or felt were unfair or unresolved. Yet, even in my lowest moments, I have never questioned the existence of God nor contemplated abandoning my faith and walking away from God.
I have learned the best way to not drift in difficult times is to stay anchored in Jesus. When we find ourselves drifting away from Him, it’s time to drop the anchor once more—to go deeper in God. Sometimes, it involves asking all the hard questions, and letting those questions lead us further into Him, not away from Him.
Asking questions is how we wrestle with our faith and grow. It’s one of the ways we keep ourselves from drifting. As Christians, we confidently profess that we believe in God, but if we don’t live a life of unpacking what that means, by continually asking questions and searching God’s Word for the answers, we’ll find ourselves believing in something we might not understand. We might even find ourselves putting more faith in our feelings than in God’s Word; and putting more trust in what we can explain, predict and control.
When we face a crisis, it’s not the crisis that causes us to drift but our questions. Jesus is the anchor for our souls, and becoming untethered to our anchor, particularly in the quest for answers to our questions, is what sets us adrift.
Jesus wants us to wonder—not wander, to ask all the questions that come up in our hearts and minds. When we have questions, God wants us to seek answers—in His Word, in prayer asking Him directly, in Bible study, and in conversations with godly leaders or friends who will offer some course-correcting advice.
I have found that as I seek my answers, there will always be situations for which I can’t explain; then I must walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7), and trust God with all my heart and lean not unto my own understanding (Prov. 3:5). I have had many of those situations in my life when I have been hurt, betrayed, disappointed and disillusioned; when I’ve failed and things didn’t go as I expected or planned; when a dear friend died way too soon. In all those times, I’ve had to keep trusting in God’s character and nature. I have had to embrace the mystery of faith. I’ve had to accept that I may never see clearly on this side of eternity, and that as long as I’m on this earth, I will only understand partially (1 Cor 13:9).
There may be a lot of questions that you and I will never have answers for. Still, God wants us to ask our questions, and whether or not we receive the answers, He still wants our faith and our trust to be in Him—not in the answers or in our own understanding. Answers help, but they are not our source of hope. Jesus is.
Going to God with questions is part of how we make our faith our own. It’s how we draw near to God and know Him deeper. It’s how we learn to stay anchored, even when the winds are blowing and the waves are raging. Digging our anchor in deeper and deeper is how we keep ourselves from becoming untethered to our faith, drifting to places we don’t want to go. It is when we obey God and respond to His Spirit’s leading, that our anchor remains and becomes secure.
Following God will always require faith, and genuine faith in God will not allow one to walk away. It takes faith to stay anchored in Jesus, to not drift, and to never walk away. The worst day with Jesus will always be better than our best day without Him. Jesus is the prize!