Most likely, yes. Many Christians who have not yet received the promised help in our lives feel rejected by God, even let down by him in our hour of need. This idea that there has been a ‘failure’ to meet our need may then turn into self–blame. The self–accusation emerges from the feeling that one does not have enough faith. Many people sometimes say that they will not attend healing services because they do not have the faith for that sort of thing.
It is not right to think of our lack of faith, as we understand the meaning of that word today, as being a faulty belief system which will turn God away in judgement, withdrawing his helping hand. Faith, when simply described as our belief in Jesus as Son of God, and belief in his virgin birth, his death and resurrection, is not in question here. It is not lack of such credal faith that limits our ability to receive God’s help but rather our lack of simple and child-like expectancy that he will do it.
All the philosophical, cynical, sceptical and scientific reasoning that we use to avoid or bend the simple truth about God’s heart makes many of us, to use the biblical term, ‘double–minded’ about such things. On the one hand we believe in Jesus as Saviour and accept that he is quite capable of doing miracles but on the other hand we have grave doubts about his readiness to do it to us, now and we feel that there are so many unanswered questions.
This puts us in two minds. We have sufficient faith and yet we also have doubts —the word ‘doubt’ being translated from a Greek word meaning ‘alternative viewpoint’.
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:21–22