- Our Unbelief –

[Mikey]

Psalm 14:1, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”
John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”
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After one of the first Russian cosmonauts returned from space, he said, “I didn’t see God up there.” Not long after that an American pastor responded in a Sunday morning sermon by saying, “All he needs to do is leave the space capsule and take off his space suit. He’ll see God then!” Woody Allen said, "If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank." Of course he was joking; however, he was expressing an attitude that is quite common in today’s society. God, though, doesn't respond to such frivolous challenges to prove His existence. In fact if the average person discovered $10 million in their bank account the person would probably assume it was a computer error or clerical mistake. Unbelief has many different forms by which it shows itself. We know that there are some who don’t even believe that there is a God. Others believe that there is a God, but says that no one can really know for sure who He is or what He is about; but that He is Whoever you see Him as being. Although this may appear to some to be a degree of faith, it really isn’t because it leaves God as an abstract, and basically without any real meaning. There are so many illustrations of unbelief recorded in God’s Word. God promised Abraham and his wife Sarah that they would have a son, Abraham laughed in unbelief and replied, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17). Later, Sarah laughed for the same reason: “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (18:12). However, perhaps the most profound example comes from the generation of Israelites who failed to reach the Promised Land. Those Israelites were the same ones who experienced the:

(1) brutal oppression of slavery;
(2) they witnessed God’s plagues upon Egypt;
(3) they watched the Red Sea part for them;
(4) they trembled at God’s power revealed at Mount Sinai; (5) they tasted bread for heaven, and
(6) they drank water from a rock.
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Further thoughts:

It’s easy to say we trust God and yet we try to handle things ourselves without turning to Him and His Word. This is masked unbelief. Although God is constantly working, He allows us to set a limit on the degree of work He does on our behalf. You can see this truth demonstrated in Mark 6 when Jesus tried to do mighty things in His hometown. They persisted in denying His deity, in spite of His obvious miracles because the people saw Him merely as a carpenter's son and not as God's Son, thus, they limited what He could do for them (v.5). Many people demanded from Jesus "a sign from heaven" (Luke 11:16). Jesus refused their arrogant and insulting demands, because their real problem wasn’t a lack of evidence; it was their stubborn unbelief. My friend, things haven’t changed very much because such unbelief exists today, even though God has provided ample evidence as a basis for faith. Our responsibility is to believe the testimony that God has provided, to trust in His Son, and to obey Him (John 3:36; 1 John 2:3-6; 5:1-13). When we do these things, He gives us an inner assurance that we are His, which makes further signs unnecessary. Lastly, there are so many distractions that exist in our world and daily life and these distractions can blind us to what it means to know the Son of God, the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and the power that He has provided for us (Ephesians 1:181-19). Father, forgive us for our unbelief. Take away our unbelief and open our eyes that desperately need to see the inexpressible riches You have given us through Your Son Jesus Christ.

A person’s soul can’t find any rest until it rests in God.