Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. – John 11:16, Amplified Bible (AMP)

When I was younger, I had a lot of faith in my own strength. It didn’t matter what challenge was before me, I knew that with my own wits, power, diligence, and persistence, I could conquer my foe. I was wrong – many times.

Now, there are tons of Bible verses that encourage us to be diligent and persistent, but there are none that teach us to trust in our own strength. On the contrary there are many, many passages that demonstrate just how weak we humans are, and through those passages God shows us just how much we need Him.

Take Thomas, for example. In John 20:24-31, Thomas refused to believe in Christ’s resurrection unless he could see it with his own eyes. He believed the feat to be impossible, and the irony underlying his unbelief is that Thomas had already seen Christ raise someone from the dead. In John 11, Thomas had accompanied Jesus to Bethany, and there, with his own two eyes, he witnessed Christ resurrect Lazarus from death. Logic would suggest that if Christ could raise Lazarus from the dead, then He could raise Himself from the dead. However, it was not logic that governed Thomas’ thoughts on that day of doubt. It was despair, and because of despair Thomas was transformed from a believing disciple willing to die with Christ into a “Doubting Thomas” that could not believe in a miracle he had already seen performed.

We are all prone to fall into the same folly Thomas did. In moments of calm and plenty, it is easy to believe that we can conquer anything on our own. But, when the fatigue and the despair come, confidence will give way to doubt, and then we will realize just how much we need God. The sooner we figure out that self-reliance is an illusion and that God-reliance is the only solid way to live, the better off we will be. As we diligently and persistently pursue the work that God has entrusted us with, worry and doubt will melt away as we stop wondering whether or not our efforts will amount to anything. Such wondering only exists when we are trusting our own power for the results we seek. When we trust God’s power instead, we remember that all things work together for good to them that love God, and anything we do according to His will and in His power will yield fruit sooner or later.

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