Tuesday, May 27, 2008

GOLD FILLINGS?

Recently in church some people, who I trust, say God turned their fillings to gold at one of our services. I trust these people, they are honest down to earth people, and I trust God, so why then is my faith shaken with this incident? It's all I can think about and my being skeptical sometimes turns into unbelief. I've seen God perform miracles in my own life, like opening locked doors to the house and restoring my marriage. I believe God for miracles like healing and unanswered prayers all the time, but for some reason my brain can't seem to wrap around God wanting to change fillings in their teeth to gold.
It's like this, on one hand I don't want to not believe God in the matter because I don't want to put God back in the box I use to have Him in, but on the other hand I don't want to blindly believe everything and get caught in something that's not part of God. At this point I'm pretty sure the part of my faith that's shaken is stemmed from fear.

The scripture that keeps popping in my head when I think about this incident is Matthew 12:39 that say "A wicked and adultress generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it expect the sign of the prophet Jonah." The religious leaders were asking Jesus to do something miraculous and give them a sign, his reply along with that was, "Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a whale and so too the son of man will spend 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40. Jesus was trying to tell the pharisees that when they saw his death and resurrection come true then (in the words of a comedian) "here's your sign" LOL. I don't think Jesus was making that statement about a wicked and adultress generation because no more miracles were going to be performed. After all, Jesus went on healing cripples, the blind, and raising the dead. He also fed the 5 thousand with only a few fish and loaves of bread. When Jesus said that about the miraculous signs, it was because the pharisees were trying to test him in order to find fault against him. God doesn't want us to ask for signs and wonders in order to test his power and existance. Luke 4:12 says, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Jesus said this to satan in the wilderness as satan was quoting scripture and trying to get Jesus to prove who he was. Even satan knows scripture and he knows it well enough to twist it around in order to make it sound like what he wants. Satan doesn't want us believing God can do big things, miraculous things, and sometimes weird things that we don't always understand because if we get ourselves in a position to believe God, then satan's influence over us deminishes. Who am I to think I can wrap my brain around the wonders of God or that He should owe me any kind of explantation (like He has to have my okay and approval in order for it to be from Him). God doesn't mind performing miracles and showing His power when it results in us having humble hearts towards Him and shows off His glory. I feel like the soldier who came to Jesus and was asking Jesus to deliver his son from a demon and the soldier said "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." Jesus replied with, "If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" I don't think the father suddenly had an apiphany moment where he got this unshakeable belief in who Jesus was. I think the father had been hearing by word of mouth the things people had been claiming Jesus could do and from that second hand source decided to approach Jesus on the matter. I think he cried out "I do believe!" from having a desperation for his son's deliverance, but couldn't help but follow that statement with the achnowledgment of what he was lacking with "help me overcome my unbelief.!" He was desperate enough for Jesus' healing touch because of the love for his son that he didn't want his unbelief to keep Jesus from touching his son, so he cried out in confession right there on the spot. Jesus didn't respond with, 'a wicked and adultress generation asks for a miraculous sign!', no he turned to the boy and cast out the 'deaf and mute spirit' Don't you think after the father saw his son delivered that he then truely believed in who Jesus was as he humbled his heart and saw God's glory. I don't want my unbelief to get in the way of anything God wants to do or finds possible. Just like the soldier, I too have only heard about things like the gold fillings, but have never seen it first hand or experienced it first hand. Am I going to let the fact that it has never happened to me, stop me from believing? If the soldier had let the fact that he had never seen it first hand stop him from approaching Jesus, then he never would have got to see his son restored. I'm reminded of just how many times I have walked around unbelieving and defeated. I can just see God now sitting on the front edge of His throne saying "Believe me! Believe that I love you and that I am capable of holding your life and the universe all in one hand and it's not too much for me! Believe me that sometimes I just like to blow your mind and remind you that I do not fit in that box you put me in."
When faith shaking circumstances like this arise in me I have to be willing to believe in a God who "takes hold of my right hand and says to me do not fear, I will help you." Isaiah 41:13 and believe that He is not a God who is going to hold me and guide me with one hand and then let me go astray with the other. He is the same God who formed the starry hosts and told them where to hang. He is the same God who allowed his ONLY son to die for me so that I could enter into the Holy of Holies and whine and cry about the things that stretch me a little too far.

Oh how I praise YOU LORD! You are so patient with me and caring enough to not get offended with me when I question Your hand. Here I am Lord, skeptical and unbelieving because I have never seen you change people's fillings into gold and so I cry out to you "Help me overcome my unbelief".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That was well said. Thank you so much for sharing. I still wonder about this whole gold filling thing. But God is using it in more ways than I can imagine.