The Tragedy of Unbelief

Then the LORD said to Moses; How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:11

My mind goes back to seasons past when I have had the privilege of teaching someone to swim or to dive into a swimming pool. So many times I have coached them to jump or to dive and they would literally freeze on the side of the pool. Knowing that they would not drown because I would have never let that happen, I would call for them to come on in. Now to me the pool was as safe as them standing on the side of the pool. But to them it might as well have been them standing on a 100 foot cliff in Hawaii. Their struggle was not one of facing death, or extreme danger but simply of UNBELIEF.

Unbelief itself is extremely dangerous. In fact it can be downright deadly. As in our text today the children of Israel were facing a deadly enemy. It was not however in the promised land but was in their hearts. It was the enemy of faith.....it was UNBELIEF.

Here is the situation. God had led His children to the brink of the land He had promised them before He took them out of Egypt. Their journey had them standing before this new and exciting land. They had sent in 12 spies to check things out before continuing their journey. When they returned, there was a division among them. Ten of the spies reported all the negatives they had seen while only 2 saw the opportunity before them.

This created quite a stir in the congregation. They began to say and even do all sorts of things in their fleshly confusion. Their journey had moved from one of faith now to one of fear. From one of dependence on God to one of dependence on themselves. Our text today is God's view of this whole situation. Let's examine what He has to say...

1) He saw their actions as rejection of Him. Now this is important. When they moved from walking by faith to walking by sight they also moved from trusting Him to rejecting Him. Now I know we do not see anywhere where they specifically say that but it is clear that that is true. HE had promised to give them that land. Their refusal to just go was a rejection of God's promise thus a rejection of HIM!

We need to remember that in our personal journey's of faith. God often challenges us and leads us to places where we will have to exercise faith. In fact He says..."without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb 11:6 We must be careful to follow HIM implicitly and without delay. Why? To delay is to Deny. To deny is to reject!

2) He saw their rejection as Unbelief. Rejection is the action and Unbelief is the real issue behind their actions. What was really going on was they just plain did not believe that God could do what HE promised. They saw people "stronger than we, a land that devoured its inhabitants, men of great stature and giants in the land." Numbers 13:31-33 The real issue was that "their" god was not big enough to "handle" their perceived problems.

It is obvious that they were not looking to the true God that had led them safely through but to a god of their own mind. Unbelief usually worships at that alter. An alter of a lesser god who does not have the power, wisdom or ability to go beyond our feeble understanding and ability.

Unbelief focuses on something or someone other than the true and living God. God even shows that in what He says....with all the signs which I have performed among them... He is simply saying that with all the evidence HE has provided for them regarding His promise and provision they are basing their decision on something else. HE had provided all the evidence needed for belief and they rejected Him and chose a different path. This is a tragedy!

But, before you condemn them to eternal hell, better look into the mirror. Don't we all have that same tendency? What promised land has HE led you to? What step of faith is HE asking you to take? Where is HE expecting you to conquer an enemy, face a giant or trust His promise? From personal experience I know HE loves for us to have to lean hard upon HIM. He often takes us to situations and circumstances we cannot control to cause us to face this crisis of faith. To find in HIM our all in all!

May I suggest you and I make a covenant together. Let us agree to walk in simple childlike faith and dependence upon God. Paul says it best..."if God be for us then who can stand against us." Rom 8 Let us trust His promise, His heart and His leading. "We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." We must believe to receive and you will never receive unless you believe. Do not become the latest tragedy of unbelief.

Trust Him today. Depend upon Him. Believe what He has said and act upon it!
You'll be glad you did!
Blessings
Bruce