How often have we said, “I know God’s got this,” but then worried ourselves through our situation?
Every time I do that, I’m proving a universal truth:
Sometimes our hearts reject the truth our heads know.
The Battle of the Head and Heart
High above the trees in Costa Rica, my head said, “Ride the zip line. You’ll be fine. You’ll have fun. You won’t die today or this way.”
My heart screamed, “NO! Don’t do it! You’ll plunge to your death!”
With my heart nearly pounding out of my chest, I watched my husband and about twenty other men and women sail down the zip line high above the canyon.
My head said, “See, not a single person has careened to their death. You won’t either.”
I felt myself relax. I knew I’d be safe.
But then the guide called me over.
My heart panicked and screamed, “RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!”
I inched towards the zip line anyway.
The guide gently asked if I’d like to ride tandem with him.
“YES!” I cried.
As illogical as it was, I felt safer riding with his extra 200 lbs of weight dragging on the cable than if I’d ridden with just my weight alone.
Even as my head said I could trust my guide, the moment he clipped us to the cable and counted to three, my heart felt nothing but sheer fear.
Isn’t this how we are with God?
“Yes, God,” we declare, “I know You’ve got this!” But our hearts still pound out of our chests.
The gut-honest truth is if our chest is pounding, our faith is faltering. (Tweet this.)
We want to believe. We say we believe. But we don’t.
Let’s stop lying to ourselves.
Let’s stop living deluded about our unbelief.
Let’s cry out like the desperate father in Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
It’s so easy to be blind to our unbelief — to falsely believe we believe.
Standing by that zipline, I would have put my hand on a Bible and sworn that I believed God was in control and caring for me. But my trembling body exposed my unbelief.
In that moment, my intense fear of heights overpowered my belief.
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
That father in Mark believed enough in Jesus to bring his convulsing son to Him for healing. But a lifetime of his son falling to the ground in uncontrollable convulsions and nearly dying at times caused the father’s fear to overpower his belief.
He cried out to Christ, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
Jesus responded, “If You can? All things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)
Our actions expose our unbelief.
When we tremble while saying, “God, I know You can provide for our finances,” our actions expose our unbelief.
We’re really saying, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
When we lay in bed unable to sleep, declaring, “God, I know You’re watching over my child,” our sleeplessness exposes our unbelief.
We’re really saying, “God, if You want, take pity on us and help us!”
The father thought he’d believed. He’d come to Jesus hadn’t he?
Jesus exposed his unbelief.
The father could’ve been offended or discouraged and walked away.
Instead, he humbled himself and confessed his unbelief.
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) (Tweet this.)
Jesus answered his prayer.
Faith Let’s Us Soar
I said, “I believe the zip line is safe,” but my trembling and tears exposed my unbelief.
Faith doesn’t worry about what the physical eye sees.
Faith sees God — and He is enough.
On that clear day in Costa Rica, I chose to see with eyes of faith.
I chose to believe the truth my head knew.
The guide clipped us to the zip line and on the count of three, we shot off together, soaring over the trees.
As I soared in the safety of my guide, I relaxed.
The canopy of trees below us was breathtaking.
My heart felt freer, lighter, and more exhilarated than I could’ve imagined.
God takes us places we’re afraid to go. Go anyway!
Let’s choose to believe — really believe — and ride with Him.
Belief allows us to soar high above our struggles and worries and brings Him glory and praise.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
~ 2 Corinthians 2:14
Let’s sail with God over the canyons of our fears and struggles safely to the other side.
As we rest in Him, He’ll have our hearts rejoicing and saying when the ride is over, “Do it again! Do it again!”
What about you? Have you experienced a zip line moment in your life? I’d love to hear your story. Share in the comments.
And if you found this post helpful, I hope you’ll share it with others. Thanks!
