Dare to Be Courageous Part 4: Doubt

Recap the Series...

For those of you who are new to this series or new to this blog I would like to extend a warm welcome and thanks for joining us. In this current series we have been examining what hurdles we have had to overcome in order to have true Godly courage. We looked at the obstacle of pride while looking at the story of Daniel and the lions den by analyzing the leaders and the king who because of their own pride and selfish ambitions landed Daniel in a potentially dangerous position. Next, we looked at fear by viewing the story of David and Goliath and the vast Hebrew army who refused to face the giant out of fear and lack of trust in God. These are just two of the three hurdles that have been needed to of been overcome and now we will look at our final issue: doubt. 

The Worst Time to be Situationally A.D.D.

In book of Matthew, there is an account in which Jesus walks on water. We have all heard the story many times and even non-believers know of this miracle so, we will not spend an extraordinarily long time telling the story but, rather look at the other part of it. When Jesus was walking we called out to Peter (one of the twelve pre-ascension disciples) to come out onto the water. Peter did so but, after seeing the waves around him began to sink. Jesus then caught him and asked "why do you doubt?" (Matt. 14:31 NIV).

The best way to describe this is taking all three of our hurdles and combining them together. One, Peter initially asked Jesus to ask him to come out onto the water. If Peter would of shown true courage, he would've just came out of the boat.This shows us his pride got in the way. Two, when out of the boat he noticed the waves and became fearful. This showed his lack of trust in Christ thus he began to sink. This brings us to doubt; if he truly trust Christ, he would have not feared the waves but, instead he doubted the power of God. Now one by itself is dangerous but, all three together is deadly. Take this account for example, because Peter was distracted by the waves, he lost sight of Christ and his faith faded. He began to sink and if it were not for Jesus catching him, he would have drowned. This unfortunately is the condition of our hearts. Now, we like to raze Peter for all of his shortcomings when it came down to his time with Christ but, we must remember he was the founder of the church today and if it were not for his faith and dedication, we would be a lost people without the knowledge of what Christ did for us. Putting this aside though, we can truly see what happens to us, symbolically speaking, when we choose to lose sight of the One who loved us and gave His all for us. God, forgive us our lack of faith and for all the times we have doubted your power.

Wrap it up...

Now comes the point where we tie all of this together. I feel that the story of Peter really helps do this making my job easy. In order to have courage, we must keep our eyes focused on Him. Like a horse with blinders, we have to zone in on what He wants for our lives and and remember He will protect us, not with our own power but, with His. So here is you dare: Remember His love, mercy and power. Remember to take full courage we must have faith, cast away our cares and fears to Him and put our own selfish ambitions aside. Most of all seek first the kingdom He has created and remember the One that began a good work in you is not done with you yet. Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.