How to Amaze Jesus

When I was a girl, I liked to read Christian romances. Sometimes, overcome with curiosity, I’d peek at the last page and then breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh, good, she’s going to marry the right one.” I could continue my reading without worry, confident the story would turn out okay in the end.

One time when I was a teen, I told my mother that I was doubting my relationship with God. My mother's words have served as a guiding principle to me many times since. “Did you know at one point in your praying that God heard your request? If you were certain at one point, then God did what you trusted Him to do.”

After we have prayed about a need and know God has heard, our faith is much like looking at the end of the book, getting a glimpse of truth, and continuing to believe what we saw no matter what happens. The story unfolds however it will, but we’re not worried. We know that in the end we’ll be able to look back and see that God answered our prayer in a way that glorified Him.

Faith is not a hope that looks forward with wistful longing but a hope that looks forward with utter certainty. We continue to trust despite delays and no apparent reason to believe the answer is on the way.

Such refusal to doubt amazes and pleases God.

“Dear Lord, I keep my eyes on You, because you never fail those who trust in you. I want to be one who causes you to be amazed because of my faith.”

“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith’” (Matthew 8:10).