We often ask God to move in our lives, and we are right to do so. But too often we petition Him from a mental disposition of despair and/or hopelessness. While sometimes this is warranted and understandable, the Bible makes it clear that most of the time we are to ask God to act from a humble, faith-filled attitude.
First, let's tackle the humble part. Psalm 69:32 says, "The humble will see their God at work and be glad, / Let all who seek God's help be encouraged" (NLT). How do we achieve the humility that David is talking about here? The most fundamental and essential answer is that we need daily Gospel revelation in our lives and in our communion with God. Too often we view the Gospel as something we respond to once in our lives when we become Christians and never think deeply about it again.
Paul wrote the entire book of Galatians to dispel this misconception. The Gospel is not only the means by which we come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but it is the power by which we live the Christian life and become more like God every day. Any other way of thinking inevitably becomes a form of works-righteousness self-salvation.
Working daily for a deeper understanding that Christ died for you at your most sinful state and is now empowering you to be an ambassador for His Kingdom destroys any basis for pride or contempt towards others. When the veil of pride is removed, we can stop wondering where God is and start seeing Him in the little things every day, which will lead us to see Him in the big things over time.
Second, we need faith that God will act in His infinite wisdom instead of ours. At the beginning of Mark 6, Jesus returns to Nazareth and is promptly scoffed at by his former neighbors. Because they knew Him growing up, they reject the "man" part of his "God-man" nature. Thus, they have no faith; verse 5 says, "And because of their unbelief, He couldn't do any miracles among them except to place His hands on a few sick people and heal them" (NLT).
Let me be clear from the outset: God can and does move anywhere and anyway despite people's attitudes. He is not dependent on us to act because He is the all-powerful God of the universe.
However, the clear theme of this passage is that an atmosphere of faith, both individually and collectively, is the most fertile ground in which God will move. In the previous passage, Jesus says to the woman who suffered internal bleeding for 12 years, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over" (Mark 5:34, NLT).
How then are we to increase our faith? Obviously, an extensive answer to that question is book-worthy, but the simplest answer I'll use here is to remember God's past mercies. When despair starts to set in, we have to intentionally work to remember the miracles and mercies God has already worked in our lives. He came through then, and He will come through now.
The Psalms are full of examples of David actively doing this. He didn't just write them down for us, but for himself and his people collectively. Just one example: Psalm 66 says, "Come and see what our God has done, / what awesome miracles He performs for His people! / He made a dry path through the Red Sea, / and His people went across on foot. There we rejoiced in Him. / For by His great power He rules forever. / He watches every movement of the nations; let no rebels rise in defiance" (verses 5-7, NLT).
Remind yourself of God's past mercies in your life, write them down and praise Him for them. When we do this, our faith inevitably rises.
A final note: you'll notice I did not say joy was necessary to prepare our hearts for miracles. Jesus worked miracles in times of sadness and even mourned Himself in such times (i.e. Lazarus' death and resurrection). This makes it clear that we can be both justifiably sad and yet humble and filled with faith-generated assurance that God will somehow move in our situation. As Elizabeth Elliot said, "The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."
