In 1993 FBI agents conducted a raid of Southwood psychiatric hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing medical records, the agents had worked up an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza place to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
According to snopes.com, a site dedicated to investigating urban legends, the following telephone conversation actually took place.
Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.
Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Man: I don't think so. *Click* (Kevin A. Miller, vice president, Christianity Today International; source: www.vasthumor.isfunny.com; and www.snopes.com)
Some things are just too incredible to believe, even when they are true. And that’s the way it is with many of God’s promises. God promises to “supply ALL our needs according to HIS riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Or God promises to “work ALL things together for good” (Romans 8:28). Or God says, “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you WILL be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
God makes some incredible promises, and sometimes we think, “There is no way those could come true.” I get too tongue-tied to be a witness for Christ. Or my situation is too bad for any good could come from it. Or my needs are too great. Sometimes we find God’s Word to be too incredible to believe, even when we know it’s true.
So what do we do in those times? How do we handle times of doubt and disbelief? How do we respond when we find God too hard to believe? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 17, Genesis 17, where we see how the man of faith responds in times of doubt.
Genesis 17:15-18 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [which means “princess”] shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (ESV)
Abraham laughed when he heard God’s promise. He couldn’t believe it! After all, you don’t see very many 90-year old pregnant women walking around.
And Besides, Abraham HAS a son, Ishmael, who is already 13 years old at this time. God doesn’t have to do any miracle to give Abraham many descendants. All He has to do is bless Ishmael. At least that’s what Abraham thinks: “Let Ishmael grow up, get a wife, and have lots of babies,” he tells God. “We’re too old for that sort of thing.” But that’s not God’s plan.
Genesis 17:19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [which means, “he laughs”]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. (ESV)
Abraham’s laughter of doubt will become a laughter of delight when Isaac is born.
Genesis 17:20-22 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. (ESV)
God has the last word. There is no question about it: God WILL do what He said. Even though it is laughable, God WILL keep his promise to Abraham.
My friends, there are times when even great man of faith doubt God, and so do some of us at times. There are times when some of God’s people find God’s promises just too incredible to believe.
So what do you do at those times? Well, first of all, like Abraham, you…
LAUGH.
You are skeptical. You are dubious, but remember: God always gets the last word.
Several years ago (1986), a Christian worker named Steve Saint was traveling through the country of Mali when his car broke down. Stranded and alone, Steve tried to rent a truck, despite warnings that he wouldn't survive in the Sahara Desert. After he failed to find a truck, in his fear and discouragement, Steve's thoughts ran to his father, Nate Saint, a former missionary in Ecuador. When Steve was only five, natives speared to death his dad and four other missionaries. Now, thirty years later, Steve found himself questioning his father's death. Steve reflected, “I couldn't help but think the murders were capricious, an accident of bad timing.”
When Steve asked some locals directions to a church, a few children led him to a tiny mud- brick house with a poster on the wall showing wounded hands covering a cross. A man in flowing robes introduced himself as Nouh Af Infa Yatara. Nouh started sharing with Steve about his faith in Christ. After becoming a Christian, his family disowned him. His mother even put a sorcerer's poison in Nouh's food at a family feast. He ate the food but suffered no ill effects.
When Steve asked Nouh why he was willing to pay such a steep price for following Christ, he simply said, “I know God loves me and I'll live with him forever.”
But Steve pressed, “Where did your courage come from?” Nouh explained that when he was young, a missionary gave him books about Christians who had suffered for their faith. Then he added, “My favorite was about five young men who risked their lives to take God's good news to people in the jungles of Ecuador. The book said they let themselves be speared to death, even though they had guns and could have killed their attackers!”
Utterly shocked, Steve said, “One of those men was my father.”
Now Nouh felt stunned. “Your father?” he exclaimed. Then Nouh told Steve that God had used the death of those five brave missionaries to help him, a young Muslim who had become a Christian, hold on to his faith. (Adapted from Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good, Multnomah, 2009, pp 400-401; www.PreachingToday.com)
There are times when even great people of faith doubt God, much less you and me who don’t have the faith of Abraham or even a missionary like Steve Saint.
So what do you do in those times? Well, like Abraham, 1st of all, you laugh. But that’s also when you need to…
LISTEN TO THE LORD, as well.
When you doubt God’s word, do it anyway. By faith, practice the things God tells you to do, even though you cannot see right now how it’s all going to work out.
That’s what Abraham did. God told Abraham to circumcise every male in his household as a sign of the covenant He made with Abraham. God had promised Abraham many descendants, and circumcision was God’s sign that He would keep His Word. So…
Genesis 17:23-27 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. (ESV)
Now, can you imagine a 99-year-old man coming after you with a flint knife? He tells you, “Call me ‘Father of Multitudes,’ and lift up your robe, I need to circumcise you. It’s a sign from God!” You’d think the man was nuts – he’s been out in the hot sun too long, and he’s going senile in his old age.
No doubt, some in Abraham’s household thought he was crazy. Shoot, Abraham himself had trouble believing it, but he did what God told him to do anyway. He obeyed God despite his own personal struggles. He obeyed God despite what others may have thought, as well.
The man of faith sometimes laughs at God’s Word, but he always listens to it. He always does what God tells him to do, even though he doubts the outcome, and that’s what we need to do. Obey God, even when His purposes and plans are obscure. Trust God enough to do what He says, even when we can’t see the end.
Many years ago, there was a young man who had fits of depression and rage so great that he would throw himself to the floor, foam at the mouth, and grind his teeth. After each episode he’d be totally exhausted, and several times he even tried to kill himself. But most of the time, he just sat in a corner somewhere, not saying a word.
His father, a believer, was at the end of his rope. He tried every psychiatrist he could find, but there was nothing they could do to help the boy. In desperation, he even went to some faith healers, but they were unable to help, as well.
Finally, the father went to Jesus and pleaded, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
And Jesus replied, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes.”
But the father, who had just about lost all faith, said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”
Do you know what Jesus did? He healed the boy. He cast the demon out of him, for he was demon possessed, took him by the hand, and lifted him to his feet. (Mark 9:22-27)
Jesus didn’t chastise the man for his unbelief. No. Jesus took what little faith the man had, and performed a miracle.
Sometimes, we’re like that man. Our faith is almost gone. And when we come to Jesus, we plead, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” Sometimes, in our despair, we doubt the Lord. But those are the times NOT to run away from God. No! Those are the times we must come to Jesus, listen to His Word, and do what He says, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.
I like what one old preacher said years ago: “Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.” (“Sparks from the Anvil,” Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no.2)
When you doubt, do God’s Word. When it seems laughable, listen anyway; and before you know it, your faith will become sight and your doubts will diminish. God will come through for you – just trust Him enough to do what he says, even when you doubt him.
John and Denise Knight were happily anticipating the birth of their first child, a son. They had already decided to name him Paul. But when Paul was born, there was a big problem: Paul was born without eyes. John and Denise would later discover that their son had other serious issues, including severe autism and a growth hormone deficiency.
Two months after Paul's birth, as John was looking at his son hooked up to tubes and sensors and surrounded by medical professionals, he quietly told God, “God, you are strong, that's true, and you are wicked. You are mean. Do it to me—not to this boy. What did he ever do to you?” Shortly after that prayer, John and Denise quit going to church.
But one couple from the church refused to give up on them. Karl and Gerilyn never pressured John and Denise about spiritual issues. Instead, they would often stop by and leave simple gifts, like a loaf of fresh bread or a basket of soap and shampoo for Denise. John said that it was like Karl and Gerilyn were saying, “I notice you. I see you. I know you're hurting and I love you.”
Eventually John and Denise accepted a dinner invitation from Karl and Gerilyn. During dinner John told Karl, “You can believe whatever you want. I don't care. I have evidence that God is cruel.” Karl softly replied, “I love you, John. I have regard for you, and I love your boy.”
Karl and Gerilyn's four children also displayed unconditional love for their son. John described it this way:
They'd throw [my son] up in the air and make him laugh and do funny bird sounds and—and that was confounding, because most people, most adults couldn't do that. And so I would have this extraordinary expression of love and affection at the dinner table here, and I would turn to my left—and there would be at least one of these children playing with my boy like he was a real boy. I wasn't even sure he was a real boy at times.
Based on this family's quiet, persistent love, John and Denise finally returned to the Lord and to their local church. And when they returned Karl and Gerilyn stayed by their side, making sure their son made it into the nursery. John would later say, “They persisted. That was a big deal that they persisted with us.” (Adapted from Tony Reinke, editor, Disability and the Sovereignty of God, Desiring God, 2012, pp. 30-36; www.PreachingToday.com)
I’m so glad John and Denise came back to the Lord and to their church, thanks to Karl and Gerilyn’s quiet, persistent love. You see, it doesn’t help when you walk away from God during those times of questioning and doubt. No! Those are the times to move closer to God and to lean on Him even harder.
How about you? What will you do during your times of doubt and despair?
Well, I hope like Abraham, when you’re tempted to laugh at God that you also continue to listen to Him. In other words, when in doubt, DO! When in doubt, do God’s Word until your faith becomes sight and God comes through for you.
Brian Wilkerson talks about the time he once ran in the New York City Marathon. He says, “The first half of that race is a party. You're swept along by 28,000 runners, crowds lining the streets, and people running in costumes. You're touring the ethnic neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens. You feel like you could run forever. At mile 13, you cross over into Manhattan and start heading north, away from the finish line. Central Park is behind you, and you're going in the wrong direction. The crowds are thinner now. The party's over.
“At about mile 16 or 18, you hit the wall. You're absolutely miserable. Physically and psychologically, you're busted. All you want to do is stop running.” Brian says, “I remember passing one of the first aid stations. There were runners lying on cots—pale and gaunt, with IVs dripping into their arms,” and Brian thought to himself, “Those lucky dogs.” At that point he began to despair. He imagined himself having to go home and tell everybody he didn't finish. He began to have his doubts. “Why did I ever sign up for this race? What made me think I could do this?”
That's when it hit him. One way or another, he had to get to Central Park. That's where his ride was. He had no car. He had no money. He would have to get there on his own two feet. So he might as well keep running. “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other,” he said to himself. “Don't think about the next 6 miles; just think about the next step. And if you can keep that up, keep putting one foot in front of the other, the miles pass. And when you cross that finish line, it feels like glory—even when you're in 10,044th place.”
Some of you may be hitting the wall right now—feeling like you can't go on, like you'll never make it. Following Christ is harder than you ever thought it would be, and you're thinking about giving up – about doing something foolish. Don't do it! (Bryan Wilkerson, from the sermon Endurance, www.PreachingToday.com)
Just do what you know God wants you to do. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other; and when you cross that finish line, it WILL be glory!
