John 7:30

This is more than the people can take! They try to lay hands on him to do him harm, but as it is, they are unsuccessful. No one is able to lay a finger on him—it is not his time yet.  John 7:30 EFP 

This passage reveals the fickle nature of people. One moment they are deliberating the claims of Jesus as the promised Messiah; the next they are actively trying to seize him and do him harm. What set them off? Was it Jesus calling them out as not knowing God? Could it have been Jesus repeatedly telling them he came from God, when they saw him as the rabbi from Nazareth? 

I believe the tipping point is a couple of words—a very specific pair of words that do not carry the significance to us as they did in those days to those people. Jesus literally says, “I know him because from him I am and He me sent.” It does not seem to be very objectionable, but for those two words—“I am.” Those two words would get him in trouble many times during his preaching ministry. But it is no coincidence Jesus uses that moniker. He lays claim to the title “I AM,” for the Jews a title reserved for YHWH, the almighty God. He is the I AM of the Scriptures. He is God. This is either the most outrageous statement ever made by a human being or it is true. My believing it to be true is the door I must enter if I am to be a believer and follower of the “Word made flesh.” Believe. 

Believing was easy when I was a child. The older I get, even surrounded by the trappings of faith, I often must grapple with the forces of doubt. Believing is becoming more and more passé, a relic of days gone by. Science and reason now stand front and center in the culture that surrounds me. From the other extreme come the often violent and toxic cries of religious fanaticism and extremism. The do equal damage to the cause of the faith that comes from God in Christ. As a result, faith is proactively marginalized and mocked. In this world—the trend is one that belittles, explains away, and seeks to exile my faith and exchange my need for God with the tangible and alluring rewards of power, money, and influence

Faith is the word calling me as a voice in the wilderness. Lord, help me understand how and what it means to believe! I want to believe in you, but I doubt my ability to. Help my unbelief.