![](https://resonant7.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/doubt-37112591280-300x200.jpg)
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860
Listen as you read. This is a lovely piano solo version.
Below is content formerly available only to Subscribers and Free Members. Want to learn more about accessing all the additional material in the Subscriber Content Library, click here. Or check out some samples at our Free Member Content Library. We have lots of tools and lots of options designed to help you be Resonant! Check them out today!!
Everyone enjoy this podcast and the transcript below.
On Tuesday we considered the first two lines of this stanza, which contained two different things we desire for the Holy Spirit to teach us. In these last two lines we will consider three more lessons we seek to learn from our Teacher, each expressions of different soul struggles with their own unique challenges. Let’s think about this.
Rising Doubt
Like storm clouds gathering on the horizon, so are the doubts that occasionally cloud our minds. The difference is that the first can only be checked by God, and the latter can only be checked by us, with check here meaning to stop or slow the advance of something.
Doubts seem as real and as daunting as an actual storm front, but in comparison they are practically illusory. Oh do not misunderstand me to say they are not significant threats to our journey of faith, but I would merely contend they do not have to be. Consider what is required to slow the rise of doubt in your mind. Trust.
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12 ESV
Doubt and unbelief are so similar they can be mistaken for one another. One might say doubt could lead to unbelief if left unchecked. Doubt is a lack of conviction, whereas unbelief is the absence of it altogether. Belief requires trust. Trust checks doubt and rebellion at the door, for you can exercise faith to submit to one you trust. It really is a decision.
![](https://resonant7.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/sigh-300x158.jpg)
Rebel Sigh
Left unchecked doubt can lead to rebellion, or a falling away from one in whom you formerly decided to place your trust. It can rise slowly like doubt as well, creeping up on you while you are unaware until you find yourself not so much in a place of radical rebellion, but despondent dissent. Lost in an encroaching darkness.
In this way it is kind of like the darkness of night slowly settling on you. You do not realize the departure of the light and the arrival of the dark until it is consuming you. Then you find yourself all alone unmoored by any sense of direction, of right or left, or right from wrong. This lack of ability to perceive direction leaves you complacent until all that is left is a sigh of resignation. What started at as careless departure from all that is right and good ends up causing you to fall away from the living God.
It is especially in those moments when we need the last of our lessons to have taken root.
Unanswered Prayer
On first glance this last line seems like a prayer for the patience required to wait until God answers prayer. That certainly may be a part of the request, but I think there is a very possible alternate or additional interpretation. I think it may be a request for the same patience God exhibits between our prayer and His eventual answer.
I believe God hears and answers every prayer, just not how and certainly not when we would like. Where might we might draw such belief? From words like these.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14 ESV
This kind of confidence gives us the patience to wait for the answer when we may be inclined to doubt if our prayer was even heard. It also gives us the ability to refrain from the audible expression of resistance, and even the feeling that prompts it. Finally, it gives us the opportunity to carefully examine our motives in the event we are asking something outside of God’s will, which may be the very reason the prayer remains unanswered, God is giving us the time to understand and adjust to the reality that the answer will actually be “no.” After all, “no” is an answer.
Take some time to pray the prayer below and if you are a Subscriber or Free Member walk through the podcast which will guide you through such a journey in just about 5 minutes, as each one does.
Spirit, teach me how to check the rising doubt and the rebel sigh. Teach me the patience required to endure unanswered prayer. Teach me. I open my heart to Your instruction. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Adaptive Thinking!
Are these thoughts helping you to develop greater spiritual awareness? Sign-up in the form to the right above to get updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.
Podcast 58.4 Transcript, 6.4
Welcome to Thursday Thoughts at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s think about this.
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Jeremiah 23:23-24 ESV
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
Rhetorical questions. Whether close at hand or far away, God is there, seeing us in what we think are secret places. He fills heaven and earth. Even when we might be inclined to run from Him we can not. Instead, ask Him to help you live with an ever-increasing awareness of His presence.
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
James 1:12 ESV
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
The Spirit is waiting to give us the power we need to bear the weight of every struggle our soul will face. And to what end, in so doing we demonstrate our love for God and receive the crown of life. Ask the Holy Spirit to bless you with the strength to remain steadfast under trial.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Hebrews 3:12 ESV
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Doubt and unbelief are so similar they can be mistaken for one another. Belief requires trust. Trust checks doubt and rebellion at the door, for you can exercise faith to submit to one you trust. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas where doubt or rebel may be standing at the door of your heart.
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
1 John 5:14 ESV
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
This kind of confidence gives us the patience to wait for the answer when we may be inclined to doubt if our prayer was even heard. It also gives us the opportunity to carefully examine our motives in the event we are asking something outside of God’s will. Ask the Spirit to give you such confidence.
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has come to your mind, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then I will read our text once more.
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Leave a Reply