I read recently that the three most difficult things for humans to say are:
#3. “I’m sorry.”
#2. “Help me.”
#1. “Worcestershire sauce”
I can still hear my dad’s mispronunciation of #1, but the other two are pivotal to faith. And #2 is the one that often trips me up with God.
Help can be hard to ask for. It puts us in a vulnerable position. Maybe you can relate? I like to be the helper, not the helped.
And to make matters worse, even once we get past the difficulty and ask for help, sometimes that help seems slow in coming. When we are waiting for help, it can often feel like God is keeping His powerful hands in His pockets. And that’s when faith questions often come.
Martha was a do-er, a server, and yet she and her sister Mary reached out to Jesus when their brother Lazarus was sick. In John 11:1-44, the sisters sent for Jesus to come help since Lazarus was dying. But Jesus did not speed to the rescue. He waited two excruciating days before coming to their aid. By that time, Lazarus had died. Though Scripture doesn’t tell us this, I imagine Mary and Martha must have felt slighted, abandoned, even doubtful. Yet, both called Jesus their Lord once He did eventually arrive, even while Lazarus was still dead. Even before the miracle.
Being vulnerable, realising our need for help, and then reaching out sounds easy, but it’s not. And the time it takes for help to arrive can test our faith. The key is to keep reaching for His hand, even when we doubt it’s there. His hand is there, hoping to meet our human hand in the sacred tension of praise and petition, worship and wrestling, quietness and questions.
Mary and Martha had questions, too, but first affirmed their belief (vv.21-22, 27). The important part is that questions don’t cancel faith. In fact, my questions while I’ve been waiting in chronic illness have always been my lifeline to Him.
Jesus’s own reach to the Father from the cross came in the form of a question, too: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 NIV).
So, even when God seems distant or unmoved, do the hard faith thing. Reach out for help, and keep asking those faith-affirming questions. The God who has gone to all lengths throughout history to stay close to His children is always there, just waiting for you to ask.
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