Whiners.

"Do you need anything?"

"No, we just hadn't seen you in a while"

"Well, I was just placing your food on trays to bring them to you when our hostess told me you needed me. Are you sure I can't do anything for you?"

"Oh yes. But we do need our food right away."

"Absolutely, sir. I will go back to the kitchen and bring out your food."

It was one of those weeks at the steak house. This particular table had been assured of their private room, which was predictably enough, was double-booked. While, of course, I took the cries for my presence as a compliment (after all, how can I blame somebody for missing me, right?), I feel free to confess to you, dear reader, that this annoyed me to no end. Such was the story of my past week. Acting as a true monument for the restaurant industry, I took in the tired, poor, the huddled masses yearning to squawk about the injustices of a world aligned against them.

Is it not just like us to complain about things that have little to no significance? Even in the moment, it could not have been very important for me to have been physically present at the table. They were not actually needing anything because I had already provided for them. They may not have known it but I actually had a plan for them. This plan included good things in their future. The problem was that they could not see me and were immediately losing faith in my abilities and intentions.

Does this look familiar? It does to me. I could point out the fact that the same generation of Israelites who had seen God make dry land out of a large body of water only to close it up on their enemies would whine about God's lack of provision as soon as they were safely across. I could point out the fact that once Jesus had been crucified and risen again, his followers (who had seen him raised from the dead, mind you) were returning to their normal course of life, fishing. I could point out the letters John wrote at the beginning of Revelation to churches who were losing faith because God somehow seemed incapable or unwilling to help.

Instead, I will just point to myself to prove my point. Jesus' promise to me could not be clearer. He said he would never leave me. He said that he would send his Holy Spirit to live in me. He said that he had overcome the world for me. And yet how often I feel myself at the verge of giving up. I lose sight of the fact that God is totally capable and passionately willing to provide what I really need.

I do not always feel God's presence in my life. Maybe you do, and that is fantastic. I do not. The great news though, is that God is no less true when I struggle to comprehend him. His plans are no less perfect when I kick against them. His promises are no less sure when I doubt them. My life is a constant process of going back to the basics.

God made me good. I turned against him. He loves me. He sent his son to live, die, and be raised again for me. His plans for me are indescribably good. His ability to come through for me is unchallenged.

I rehearse these truths to myself constantly. What do you do when you doubt?