IN THE DARK WAITING ON THE REST OF THE STORY

My brother-in-law is a professional photographer. Years and years ago, I was visiting my sister for a few days, and my brother-in-law had taken some photographs that he was ready to develop. He had his own darkroom in the basement, so he gave us a warning not to disturb him while he was in the process.

Apparently, there are many steps that you have to go through in order to get the photograph to develop. And, one of the biggest no-no’s is when someone opens the door before the process is finished. The entire photograph would be ruined if it is exposed to light too soon.

Nowadays, most photographers use digital cameras, and the darkroom process is no longer needed. But the whole idea of waiting for the photograph to develop intrigues me.

This past week, I have come across similar verses in the Bible. Whenever this happens, I try to pay attention and see where the Lord is leading me.

Mark 11:23-25

²³ “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

James 1:6

⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Both of these verses have to do with doubt. What is doubt? Is it a lack of faith? Of course, it is! When we doubt, we are saying to the Lord, “I am not sure that you are paying attention.”

The Lord says that if we do not doubt but believe that it will be done in our hearts, then we can move mountains. He also says that those who doubt are double-minded and unstable in all that they do.

Joe has a story about one of his friends who got caught kissing another woman. The man who was caught red-handed says, “but honey, who are you going to believe? Me, or your old lying eyes?” Well, obviously, her eyes weren’t lying to her, but maybe our eyes could be lying to us.

2 Corinthians 5:7

⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight.

We are hampered by what we can “see” in this world. We ask, and pray for something, and we try really hard not to doubt that it will happen. But what we see with our eyes might cause us to start doubting. Maybe the diagnosis keeps coming back with a bad report. Or, maybe your marriage doesn’t seem to be healing like you thought it would. Or, maybe that job that you wanted so badly has been given to someone else.

Those circumstances would all be great reasons to start to doubt if we didn’t know the Great Creator. He has not forgotten us, and He is hard at work on our behalf. Maybe you are just trying to see the picture before it has had time to develop. Whenever we feel doubt starting to creep in, call out to the Lord.

Mark 9:24

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Declare, “I DO BELIEVE, help me overcome my unbelief!” Then, declare a “DOUBT FREE ZONE” and rejoice as you smile, and envision the Lord busy at work developing your story.

Have A Blessed Day!!!

PS: Sharing my Sunday blog posts makes the devil go nuts!