When believers don’t believe

 

When I was young, I remember my mom saying, “It’s not a matter of whether I believe God can do this, I just don’t know if I believe He will do this.” That’s stuck with me because I’ve been there on many occasions in my life. I believe in God’s power, but I question at times His willingness to respond positively to my requests. In Psalm 78, Asaph recalls a time in Israel’s history where they questioned the CAN of God and probably even the WILL of God. The result: God wasn’t pleased with their low view of Him. Read verses 18-22:

18They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”

21Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, 22because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. ESV                                                                                

Asaph looks back at Israel’s time of wandering in the desert. God provided for them in miraculous ways, and yet they still struggled to believe in Him. Verse 22 just gets to me, “They did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power.” Now they believed that Yahweh existed, but they did not believe that God could or would provide. Those same Israelites who watched God provide life sustaining water gush out of a rock questioned whether God could feed them meat in the desert.

Moses, himself, questioned God on this point in Numbers chapter 11. Moses had grown so weary of the people complaining about not having meat that he asked God to take his life if he didn’t get some help in dealing with these people. However, when God told Moses that He would provide enough meat to feed the people for a month, Moses is like, “Really?! How are you going to do that God?” God in turn replied to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened?”

Even Moses thought that task was a little out of reach even for God. That jar of cookies on the top shelf was a little too high for God’s short arms and there was no step stool. Here they are, God’s people whom He redeemed out of Egypt and provided water for them from a rock, and yet they have trouble believing whether God can provide for them and whether God wants to provide for them. Little did they know that the cookie jar the people wanted wasn’t out of reach for God and He would take it off the shelf and let them eat those cookies until they puked!

I always try to pause before I mentally judge the people of Israel for their foolish actions that I get to assess in hindsight. I have to pause because I know I’m just like them. Sure, I like to think I’m not as whiney and foolish as they are portrayed, but the reality is I am. Most of us have likely questioned God’s ability at times, wondering whether God can overcome an overwhelming obstacle in our life. And if you haven’t, you probably have experienced the doubts of my mom, who questioned God’s willingness. You may fully believe God has the power to do something, but you just aren’t sure about God’s willingness to do it.

There is a story told about Alexander the Great and a loyal general. After many years of service, the general approached Alexander and asked him if he would pay for his daughter’s wedding. The mighty king agreed and instructed his treasurer to give whatever amount the general requested. The general requested an exorbitant amount that would have provided for the largest wedding in the history of Greece! After receiving the request, the treasurer immediately went and informed Alexander so he might deter fulfilling such an outrageous sum. Alexander paused after hearing the amount and then replied, “Grant him his request in full. He honors me in two ways. First, he believes that I am rich enough to afford his request, and secondly, he believes I am generous enough to grant it.”

I don’t know if that story is true or not, but the point highlights this issue of our belief in God. Do we believe God is able? And do we believe God is willing? The first question deals with God’s power and the second question deals with God’s goodness. Is God’s hand too short? Is God’s heart too small?

Jesus countered this second line of thinking when He said, “9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11)

God is able and willing to give good gifts to His children. One caveat I must mention, sometimes we are actually asking for a serpent when we think we’re asking for a fish! What we think is a good thing, God knows it’s actually bad for us and says, “No.” But when we genuinely ask for the fish, God’s going to give us the fish not the serpent. God is able and willing to give us good gifts!

Where do you struggle? Do you struggle believing God CAN or believing God WILL? Share your thoughts in the comments section. I would love to read them!

As believers let us truly believe and honor God by believing not only that He CAN but that He WILL!

 


Comments

  1. tiggymeisterJuly 14, 2021 at 9:47 PM

    I always believed God could heal Matthew (our son-in-law) of his brain tumor; but I too, questioned whether He would do it. I came to understand that God would heal Matthew, either on this side of the veil or the other, according to His good will because it really wasn't about the healing of his cancer that was the issue; the issue was whether or not I believed God was good (in all things) ...even allowing our beautiful son-in-law to get a brain tumor seemingly out of nowhere at such a crucial time in his little children's lives and leaving a young wife behind........

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    1. Pastor ScottJuly 26, 2021 at 12:22 PM

      Those are truly the difficult times, when we firmly believe we are asking for a good thing and God doesn't do it. We desperately want to avoid pain, and pain and death don't make sense. I turn to Gethsemane and the cross in those times. Jesus asked to avoid pain and death, yet He also knew there were reasons far deeper that required Him to endure it and was willing to accept His Father's "No." I have to believe the same is true when God allows pain and death in our lives. God is still good and still powerful and is also all-knowing, which I am not. Thank you so much for sharing such a difficult situation. God's grace to you!

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