In Luke’s Gospel, when the apostles
say to Jesus, Lord, increase our faith,
Jesus responds by encouraging them them to remain open, to trust, to be
confident that no matter what comes, God will help them to find a way through,
even if that way isn’t what they have planned for. If we are open, Jesus says, faith the size of a mustard seed will
suffice for our every need. But hearts
open are not hearts hardened, as Psalm 95 describes them: If
today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Like the people at Massah and Meribah, we can
easily lose sight of God’s plan and so our hearts are hardened; we need
confidence in the one who leads us, the one who calls us to faith and to trust,
the one who calls us to remain open to his action in our lives.
Moreover, as the Lord tells
Habakkuk, God acts on God’s own schedule; the Lord’s time frame is not our
own: if
it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The Lord calls us to have patience, enough
patience to wait for God’s plan to unfold.
Circumstances can seem dire, as they did to the people of Habakkuk’s
time, and as they do to Timothy many years after Jesus’ death. But, as with God
and Habakkuk, Paul instructs Timothy to remain open, to have trust in Jesus
Christ who is behind the words that Timothy heard from Paul. Timothy is experiencing a moment of
difficulty; he is called to faith in the Lord, who has offered him as gift the spirit of love and self-control.
We all experience moments of doubt,
moments when we wish that the Lord would increase
our faith. But faith is ours if we simply
open ourselves to it, if we have trust in God and confidence in his love, if we
live as servants from that love. Each day God gives us strength, and the opportunity to expand upon the gifts that are
ours, to allow them to grow… if only we are open to receive those gifts, open
to receive the faith that allows them to flourish.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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