Running through Matthew 9 is one quiet, powerful thread: faith that simply trusts God to do what only He can do.
When Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector didn’t bargain or hesitate — he got up and followed. And when the religious leaders objected to the company Jesus kept, Jesus reminded them that He came for those who know their need of Him. Trust begins there: not in having it all together, but in believing He is enough.
Then come two people at the end of their own strength. A synagogue leader, his daughter already gone, kneels and says, in effect, come, and she will live. He doesn’t hedge his hope — he stakes everything on Jesus being able to do it. A woman who had bled for twelve years pushes through the crowd, certain that even touching the edge of His cloak would be enough. She had no backup plan, only belief. And Jesus turns to her: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has healed you.”
This is the same trust we see in Abraham long before. God promised him a son and descendants as countless as the stars — yet Abraham was a hundred years old, and Sarah well past the age of bearing children. By every human measure it was impossible. But Abraham did not waver through unbelief; he was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised (Romans 4:20–21). And in His own time, God gave them Isaac — laughter and life out of what seemed long dead. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it, Abraham considered Him faithful who had made the promise (Hebrews 11:11).
Scripture is full of this same trust against the odds. When the people stood trapped at the Red Sea, Moses said, “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring” (Exodus 14:13) — and the waters parted. When a small shepherd boy faced a giant, David declared the battle belonged to the Lord, not to sword or spear (1 Samuel 17:47). When Daniel was shut in the lions’ den, his trust held through the night, and God closed the lions’ mouths (Daniel 6:23). And Mary, told she would bear the Son of God, answered simply, “I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).
The thread never changes. Proverbs urges us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Jesus reminds us that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Luke 18:27). And Paul, looking back over all of it, can say we live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Notice what God honours in every one of them. Not their understanding, not their qualifications, not their strength — their trust. The father trusted Jesus with death itself, and the girl was raised up. The woman trusted Him with years of suffering, and was made whole in a moment. Abraham and Sarah trusted Him across decades of waiting, and received the child of promise.
This is the faith God invites from us: not a polished, certain-of-everything faith, but a faith that lets go and leans fully on Him. When our own strength runs out, when the promise seems impossible and the waiting long, He is still trustworthy. The same God who answered them answers us — only believe.
This week, wherever you feel you’ve reached the end of your own resources, bring it to Him and trust Him with it. He has never once turned away an honest, believing heart.
