Shirley
At some point we have to grow up and start believing God
Believing means: the act of accepting something as the truth or to have confidence or faith in the truth of or give credence to or to have confidence in the assertions of (a person or in this case God).
Every time I read Israels 40-year experience in the dessert, I get very upset with their actions and behaviours throughout the journey, and further, I just cannot understand why they could not believe.
The bible gives a very detailed account of the whole 40-year journey of the Israelites from 430 years of slavery in Egypt to the promised land of milk and honey. We see this momentous journey chronicled throughout the Old Testament in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Through the bibles chronology over the forty years, we get to see the Israelites as they changed and evolved and the important role that God played in their life. We see God split the red sea and drown the Egyptians in the most gloriously and dramatic manner that set the Israelites free from slavery. And after this momentous occasion the children of Israel in Exodus 14: 31 says: And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and moses his servant. To commemorate their red sea, escape the Israelites a sang a song to the LORD in Exodus 15 (1-21) proclaiming the goodness, faithfulness and majesty of God. However, it does not take them very long, in fact immediately after the song in the same verse, in Exodus 15:23 we see the Israelites begin to grumble about not having water to drink, but they calm down after they get water. Then in the next chapter in Exodus 16 God blesses them with manner for food, literally it rains down bread from heaven, and they still begin to grumble for meat, and even then, God hears their cry and provides them with meat, but it is never enough for them. So much so that their constant grumbling which is a manifestation their lack of faith in God becomes the pattern or template of behaviour throughout their 40 years in the dessert. There posture towards God becomes a perpetual circle of constantly choosing not to trust Him and to always seeing their problems as bigger and just down right refusing to believe that God is not only a father who loved them and would protect them, but that he would provide for them, and that He had a good plan for them. They just could not accept His love. So, whenever they encountered a problem their first default response was to complain instead of trusting the God who by know had provided them with receipt upon receipt of miracles that they could rely on and use as the foundation to trust in His unfailing faithfulness, but they just could not. However, God’s response was a relentless pursuit or courtship for their trust. He performed miracle upon miracle and would not leave their side, however, when it came down to trusting Him and eventually receiving the promised land, they refused to receive. They just could not step into it and claim their promise which God had already given into their hands. They literally rejected their blessing. Can you imagine that! How can you pray for something for so long (a generational prayer for over 430 years) and when it comes time to receive, they just could not? What kind of madness is this you might ask?
I mean they saw God perform the miracle of the pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21–22), the sweetening of the bitter water at Marah (Exodus 15:23–25) the miracle of the quails (Exodus 16:11–13). Then there was the miracle of the manna. They ate bread from heaven (manna) until they reached the border of Canaan (Exodus 16:35). In fact, Joshua 5:10-12 provides that the manna stopped the day after they ate the produce of the land of Canaan. Further, their clothes and sandals did not wear out for 40 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4 and Deuteronomy 29:5). There was also the miracle of the life-giving water from the rock (Exodus 17:5–6), and the defeat of the Amalekites at Rephidim (Exodus 17:11–13), and the most breathtaking the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21–22). And after all the above they judged God to not to be worthy of their faith.
Nonetheless, aren’t we all just like the Israelites?
When I look back on my life, I see the hand of God upon me that speaks of his abundant love and unfailing faithfulness for me. I have receipts upon receipts of doors opened and also those that were closed that turned out for my good. Literally everything that God has done or allowed in my life whether it made sense or not, whether if felt like a win or a loss has always ended up working for my good. From my little experience I can confidently say that He has never been later even when it felt like it in the moment. Everything, I mean everything even my biggest losses and struggles have worked out for my good. Even this moment of abundance that I am standing in right now which has come with its share or challenges as all good thing do, it is all to the glory of God. I did not and cannot earn it. It is his loving and merciful hand that has brought me safe thus far. So, you would imagine that at the first sign of trouble(loss, closed door, challenge, wait etc) I would first run into my fathers’ hands, a father whose love for me is unfailing( Psalm 36:5-7 and Psalm 33:5) and perfect (1 John 4:18), and whose faithfulness is perfect ( Isaiah 25:1; Psalm 36:5 ), but that is not what I have been doing, I have instead been grumbling like the Israelites and focusing on the size of my problem.
Another similar example of unbelief and how it impacted the people’s ability to receive from God is recounted in Mark 6:5-6, Luke 4:24, John 4:44. Here Jesus visited his hometown and except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them, he could not perform any miracles because the people had no faith.
The question then becomes, why do we struggle so much to simply believe?
I have come to realise that my problem is a heart problem. This is because to truly believe God requires surrender. It requires us to lay down what we think we can control or do, and the narratives we have created around what we are praying for and even what we have seen. It requires complete, full and utter trust into the love of God. God must be your safe space because of His unfailing love. You cannot believe God or His word if at your core you do not believe that He truly loves you (all your bad and good). That He loves you so much (I mean the bible is a ululation of God’s abundant love for us. It is replete with bible verses that pronounce His love for us in the most poetic and definite ways). The way He loves us no human or thing has the capacity to love us in the same manner. However just because you are loved does not mean that you have allowed yourself to receive it. I assure you if you believe that God loves you in all the abundant and wondrous and earth-shattering ways as provided in the good book, then to believe Him should be second nature. And if you find yourself struggling to believe then I urge you to investigate the posture of your heart. Have you received the father’s love, do you believe who He says He is, what He says about you, and how much He loves you! I had to go back to my foundational beliefs of who I really believed God is, and if I had truly received His love.
The question to myself and to those of us reading this blog is: do you or do you not believe God and His word, it is really that simple? Can you believe when you cannot see and everything looks impossible but God has given you a promise?
I for one, I am in a season where I have been extremely challenged to draw my line on the sand and to take a stand, no more dilly dally. Today I DECLARE that I believe that God loves me, I believe that He is not only good but that He has a good plan for my life, and that everything, I mean everything even the things I do not understand or the things that are hard will work out for my good. I refuse to be like the Israelites in Exodus who came to the door of their promised land but they just could not surrender and soften their hearts to trust that God loved them and that He would take care of them like He had already proven time and time again. They had full access to an abundant life and all they had to do to receive it, was to have faith and trust God. Nonetheless, they chose fear so they refused to obey God’s instruction to take their promised land, and as a result their whole generation died in the desert, a season that was meant to be temporary one or a transitional one (Number 13, 14, 15 and Joshua 5:6-7, Hebrews3: 7-17).
Yes, it is time we put on some big boy pants and decided whether we believe God and His word or not, no lukewarmness is allowed. If we do not contend for our faith and find that God is who He says He is, and that He is worth putting our faith in. If we know of God and go to church but do not put our faith in Him completely, we could live an ‘okay’ life, but never receive the abundant one that God has already predestined for us because we just could not must up the faith to receive it (John 10: 10 and 2 Peter 1-10 etc)!
Picture by: Tony Eight Media from unsplash.com