From the Pastor’s Heart by Pastor David Nuottila

Do you have enough faith?
Read Mark 7:24-30
Do you have enough faith? Do you have enough faith to pray even when it seems God is not listening? It is not always easy to maintain faithfulness, especially when it seems God is silent to our pleas for help. Just as the Psalmist wrote; “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest…” (Psalm 22:2) many feel they experience silence from God. On the night he was handed over, Jesus himself prayed that the cup of suffering might be removed from him, yet he remained faithful. The fact remains that Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s greatest silence.
We have all experienced this silence of God. We pray for something, and the opposite seems to happen. We pray for healing yet still suffer. We pray for companionship, yet we remain lonely. This is where faith enters. Having faith means understanding and believing that Christ was, is and always will be Emmanuel, God with us. Even as we do not understand God’s ways, through faith we are enabled to believe that God’s mercy endures. Even as we don’t always seem to get what we want, the Holy Spirit leads us through faith to realize God gives us what we need.
In the text listed above, the Syrophoenician woman pleads for her daughter’s healing; she believes the crumbs from the Master’s table have the power to save. It is all she needs. Even as we plead, “Lord have mercy”, Christ reaches out and fills our empty hands with this same bread from heaven. Christ is our only source for forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life. Through faith in him we are saved.
Do you have enough faith? What do you think? Do you believe that God’s blessings are for you even if you are an outsider? Having enough faith is not hoping we will get what we want; it is knowing Jesus is Lord. Having enough faith is believing that no matter what chaos threatens us, we are not alone in a storm. Having enough faith means knowing Christ is our Lord and our God, and through him only is the way to eternal life.
Grace to you and peace,
Pastor David Nuottila