According to the bible, when Lazarus died, Martha doubted Jesus. Yet, the latter told her :

"Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)

Was there already a time in your life when you doubted the Lord?

I'd assume yes. Because we're just humans. You see, no one is perfect, even when it comes to faith.

We believe more what we see, but we cannot see the physical state of God. Thus, we start to doubt His presence.

How can we believe something that is not revealed?

It was once explained in our Theology class that there are two types of revelation.

/Revelation-to show what has been hidden/

First is the natural revelation, wherein one is revealed by using our God given gifts of reason and intellect. For instance, through our physical senses, a thing may be revealed through seeing, touching, hearing, etc.

Now, there's this second revelation called divine revelation.  This revelation is explained as coming directly from God, in  the scripture and through Church Tradition. A revelation that is beyond our physical senses.

Why I am telling these?

Because the first purpose of our faith is to know God. But how can we say that we know someone who we haven't seen yet?

Or do you really believe you haven't seen God yet? 

There's this story of a an old religious woman who have spoken with God. This wasn't the exact but I'll try to tell it on my own way.

 It was one afternoon when the women heard an unknown voice while she's reading the bible. This voice belongs to God, and God told the women who He is. Ofcourse, the woman was more than delighted for who wouldn't want to hear the real voice of the Lord? The two talked and the Lord told her that He would visit her in her house tomorrow. He told the woman to prepare something for Him. This woman, ofcourse,  gladly obeyed. The next morning, she prepared everything : her comfortable couch, food and fireplace.

She waited for the Lord the whole morning. Afternoon came, there's still no presence of Him that she started to worry. It was until someone knocked unto her door. She was very excited as she was expecting it was the Lord, yet when she opened the door, to her dismay, it wasn't. On the door was an old man looking weary and tired. Nevertheless, out of sympathy, she welcomed this old man. The old man told her how tired he is after a long walk from his journey, yet his destination is still two villages away. That's why this old man knocked to her door, to ask for a chance to let him in and rest for a while in her humble home. Also because her home is the only house in the boundary of two villages  so it's normal for passers to ask for her help. She pitied how tired the old man, but she noticed how dirty its cloth was. Dusts had stick unto his pants. She's contemplating to let him sit in the couch for he could make it dirty, thinking she prepared the couch for the Lord's visit! Yet her heart was moved with the old man so she let him use it anyway. She even offered water and  some food she prepared for the Lord, which are three loaf breads.The old man was so grateful but only took one loaf bread and leave.

She was happy to help,  however, an hour later, there's another knock on the door. She remembers the Lord and became excited again, anticipating it was Him. Only that when she opened the door, it was a woman holding a little crying child. This mother begged her if she could let them in and have something to eat since her child is really hungry. These two are also going to the other village but the mother failed to bring some food since they have none, even a penny to buy one. They're going to a relative to ask for help but her child can't take the hunger anymore. She was more than touched so she didn't think twice in offering the remaining loaves she had. Again, she let a stranger rest in her house for while, and happily bid them good bye.

Night came that she totally forgot about the Lord's visit and decided to sleep. Only a little while when she's about to fell in a deep slumber, a heavy rain started to pour. Now she need to stand up to close the windows. However, while pulling the window pane, she saw a little a boy struggling to find a shelter to be shielded by the rain. She eagerly called the boy's attention and welcomed him in her home. She made him sit near the fireplace and prepared him a soup. She also decided to let him sleep in her house for the meantime. The boy came from the neighboring village who originally planned to buy some item on their village but was stranded by the rain. The next morning, she enthusiastically bid farewell to the boy. This boy was very grateful that he offered her some money as gift of gratitude but she just refused. 

Satisfied that she helped someone again, she decided to sit near the window and watch the boy go on his way. Suddenly, she heard a voice again which is of the Lord. Then she remembers the promised visit and asked Him about it. 

"My Lord, you told me you would visit me, why didn't you come?"

The Lord replied,

" But I did. I even visited you three times already and you welcomed me. You offered me a couch for I am tired. You gave me water for I am thirsty. You offered me food and even let me sleep for the night. "

The message of this story is, what you're doing to your brethren is what you are doing to the Lord. 

Yet it also points that the Lord doesn't reveal Himself the way we expect Him to.

That's why I shared about the natural and divine revelation. We cannot see the Lord but He is revealing Himself in other millions of way we usually don't recognized. Sometimes He can be our friend, one of our family member, or just a random stranger we met on the way. He reveals himself in a natural way yet disguised. He doesn't hid from us for He is with us, just most often overlooked with our physical senses.

He also reveals himself divinely through the scriptures and Church Traditions. For us Catholics, we can say that we encounter God through the Holy Communion ( where we celebrate how the bread broken by Jesus in the last supper became His flesh). Generally for different  Christian denominations, we also encounter God through worships and praise.

Now, you may asked why God isn't revealing Himself completely. Why doesn't He just show Himself directly so we could finally and totally believe in Him?

In our Theo, it was explained this way : 

One cannot know God completely through natural revelation. The effects of original sin ( the sin we inherited from Adam and Eve ) hinder our clear vision of Him, so we need God's direct (divine) revelation to help us know Him  as fully as we are humanly able.

We are flawed as humans so it could be true that we couldn't avoid doubting the Lord's presence, especially when we are put in a difficult test of time.

But I do hope that whenever we feel like doubting Him, the more we seek for His existence. 

Somehow, it's not our choice to doubt Him because we have gifted with intellect that it's natural for us to question things we couldn't understand.

But what is a faith if everything were already offered in our plates right?


Doubt but never stop seeking for answers. 

As for me, doubts are temporary when you have faith that is beyond permanent.

Hope I shed a bit of englightenment to your day. Godbless! Staysafe<3

#Goodnews
#sharing