How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy of doubt triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give me some evidence, or I will give up, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
I want to trust in your unfailing love, but instead I doubt whether you even exist.
My heart wants to rejoice in your salvation, but I don’t know if it is true.
I want to sing the LORD’s praise, or should I sing a different tune?
-
Archives
- December 2011
- September 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
-
Meta
Ephesians 1:16-19
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
As the saying goes, “From your lips to God’s ears.” Thanks for those encouraging words.
I would like to ask you a simple question, Mark.
Please answer with Yes or No.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the living bread that came down from heaven, the way, the truth and the life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?
Reto,
I have to answer with, “I don’t know”. That is what I doubt about. I can’t answer Yes or No. I used to answer yes, but now I just don’t know.
You don’t believe. It’s that simple. Face the reality my friend. Admit it. I believe that you are going to get your faith back one day. But it’s not up to you.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. ”
May God bless you.
Hi Reto, I’m pleased to meet you.
Gentlemen, the idea that “faith is not up to us” is not at all what I get out of the the Gospels or Paul for that matter.
Jesus is constantly rebuking his disciples and others for not exhibiting enough faith. If faith were not a volitional act, but instead depended on God’s actions then the 50+ times that Jesus criticizes his followers makes about as much sense as Jesus criticizing a blind man for being blind.
You quoted John 6:44 but in the very next verse the author goes on to say that listening and learning from the Father is all that is required.
44″No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
And John 6 is typical of the rest of the Gospels. Just read from John 6:28:
28Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
It sure sounds like it’s up to us to believe.
And this just brings up another issue. The very next line, John 6:46 says:
46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.
This is not true according to Genesis 32. Jacob wrestles with God and sees God “face-to-face”. Jacob was surprised to survive and named the spot Peniel (Face of God).
It’s things like these that make me wonder what God wants us to think and believe or if he really didn’t have a hand in the Bible at all.