When You Need Confidence In God Without Evidence That He's Working

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.- Hebrews 11:1

Every Sunday night, I lead a life group of nine high school girls. In my years of working with students, whether that’s in the context of youth ministry or coaching basketball, I’ve learned that while you’re there as an adult to teach them and give them wisdom, it’s often the students who end up teaching you. My Sunday night life group is no different.

Last night, we had a really good conversation about faith, how we know we’re supposed to have faith in God - faith that He’s good, faith that He’s for us, faith that He’s working on our behalf - but a lot of times, that’s way easier said than done.

We want evidence that God is working so our confidence in Him will grow. But as followers of Jesus, we are called to have confidence in God long before we see any evidence of His work. That’s true faith.

For the last 30 minutes of our time in life group last night, we turned on some worship music and we all wrote down prayers asking God to do a miracle in our lives. The miracle could be in our families, our friendships, our mental health, our future - it could be anything. But the point was to write down the prayer, asking God to move, and believing that, down the road, we’d be able to come back to the prayers and see how God answered them. It would be a reminder that we are choosing to have confidence in Him before the evidence comes.

If you’re reading this devotion, and you’re struggling to have faith - if you’re having a hard time believing that God is going to work the miracle in your life that you’ve been hoping for - I want to share a prayer with you. I’ve found over the years that it can be really helpful to borrow a prayer when you’re not sure what to say on your own…or when you feel like you’ve run out of words to pray.

If you’re faith tank is running low, friend, this prayer is for you. I hope you’ll take the time to offer this prayer up to God today so that He might restore your confidence in Him while you wait to see the evidence of His work.

I’d also encourage you to write this prayer down somewhere. Personalize it if you want to. And believe that one day, you’ll be able to come back to this prayer and see how God answered it and how He was working all along.

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Dear Jesus,

You know my heart. You know what I desire. You know what I’ve been waiting for. And while I’m grateful you know me better than anyone else, it’s hard sometimes to trust that you’re working on my behalf when I can’t see any evidence of what you’re doing.

My faith is dwindling, Lord. I feel heavy. I feel disappointed. I feel discouraged. And the thought of this situation changing at all seems practically impossible.

At the same time, I know that my eyes have been more heavily focused on my circumstances than they have been on you. I’ve been so worried and stressed and I haven’t run to you with those burdens. I’ve been trying to carry it all on my own, and I don’t want to do that anymore. I’m sorry I haven’t trusted you with my fears and worries.

So before I ask for anything else, Jesus, I’m asking for more of you. I’m asking for more of your love, joy, peace, and patience. Help me to keep my eyes on you instead of focusing on my circumstances. Help me to remember that when Peter walked on water, he only started to sink when he took his eyes off of you and focused on the storm around him. But when he focused on you, you made his steps firm.

There’s nothing you can’t do, Lord. Nothing is impossible for you. And I’m so grateful you aren’t worried about this. You’re bigger than this. You’ve got it all taken care of. Thank you so much for that.

Lord, I’m praying, I’m begging, for you to answer my prayer, to relieve this burden, to grant me my heart’s desire. But more than anything, Jesus, may your will be done, in your way and in your timing. I trust you. I believe in you. And I’m scrounging up every ounce of faith in my heart to walk this journey with you.

Jesus, please do immeasurably more than I could ever hope, think, ask, or imagine.

I’m expectant, Lord.

In Jesus’ name, amen.