When Your Faith Feels Small

By: Lauren Thomas 

Happy Good Friday! The Christian life is based on the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. One of these we celebrate on Good Friday. The other we celebrate on Easter Sunday. But we sometimes ignore the day in between: Holy Saturday.

This is a day for those whose faith feels small. 

Can you imagine what the disciples felt between crucifixion and resurrection? They didn’t understand that “Sunday was coming,” that resurrection was imminent. Instead, they were afraid, grieving, disappointed, disillusioned, confused, doubting. Jesus was gone. This didn’t match their expectations. They didn’t have a way to make sense of their experience. 

 

Holy Saturday is for you, for me, for all who find themselves between the beauty of the inauguration of the Kingdom and the final consummation of it. It’s a waiting place, a between place. It’s where we experience grief at the loss of a loved one. It’s where we face the pain of disease and diagnosis. It’s where we feel disappointed, disillusioned, and confused. It’s where relationships shift and rupture and we long for repair. 

 

These are times when our faith can feel small. 

 

If you find yourself living in Holy Saturday, and your faith feels small, I want to remind you of Mark 9:14-26. A man approached Jesus, beseeching him to heal his son. His son’s situation was dire, and the man had already faced the disappointment of the disciples’ inability to do anything for him. The man cried in Jesus’ face, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22B ESV).

 

23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24 ESV

 

Jesus did heal the boy.

 

Your doubt, my doubt, doesn’t diminish the power of God. God would have still raised Jesus even if no one on Earth had yet believed that He would. But when our faith feels small, we can pray like this man prayed: “I believe; help my unbelief.” We can offer up our minuscule mustard seed of faith (Matthew 17:19-20) and ask that Jesus multiply it.

 

Charity Gayle wrote a song called “Seed of Faith.” This song helped sustain my faith during a Holy Saturday in my life.

 

And You say

"Fear not, because I am the Lord, your God

And trust that I'm working all things out

So, in the field of doubt plant a seed of faith

And I'll send the rain”

 

No matter the doubt you face in your own Holy Saturday, no matter how small your faith is, plant that seed, offer that prayer – “I believe; help my unbelief” – and expect God to send the rain. Easter Sunday will come. 

 

Reflection:

Have you ever found yourself in a “Holy Saturday”? A time when your faith felt small?

How did the Lord bring you through it? If you are currently in a “Holy Saturday” season, read the passage above from Mark and pray this man’s prayer.