Faith amidst all

What will take us to believe in God? What will make us trust in God amidst all?

The readings today encourages us to have faith in God. The first reading reminds us to just rely on God despite of the circumstances around us. There are a lot of things we cannot control, there are a lot of people we cannot understand. The enemy uses a lot of people, circumstances and things to try to bring us down, to dampen our spirits as we serve God. However, we are reminded to focus on God. Although we cannot control a lot of things, what we can control is where our focus would be at during when all these things are happening. We can control who we get strength from and who we expect to fight with us. We need faith in God that he would be with us despite of every challenges that may seem strong. We need faith that God will see us through.

The gospel shows us people who does not want to accept Christ. They have seen things he has done – things that were enough for other people to convert and follow Him. However, these Pharisees have their focus on themselves and not on God – that is why their hearts were closed to Him. No miracle is enough for them to believe. No amount of explanation and dialogue would make them change their minds. We are reminded to be sensitive enough to realize when we are becoming like those Pharisees, who pretend to be righteous but are actually just demanding attention to themselves and not God. We need faith to be sensitive to God’s work in our lives, and recognize that these miracles are God’s ways of telling us that he loves us, and not ask for grand signs just for us to believe.

When things are tough, when we are persecuted from serving God, weather through people like the Pharisees, or through circumstances, may our prayer be like the psalmist’s “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge” and have faith in God’s infinite power and love for us.

God bless!