Help my unbelief

Piper’s devotional for today contains this line: “Let us spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, not by coercion, but by compelling conviction.” I’m not sure how that is done by coercion, but agree whole-heartedly that it must be by a deep conviction. If I’m doubting that God is in control, it will show up. While lack of faith could be the problem, doubt could arise from a proud attitude that I know better than God. It happened to Peter. Jesus spoke of His death…

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:22–23)

The disciples had much to learn about God’s sovereign power. So do the rest of us. Some evidence of not knowing, or forgetting truth about God can be: arrogant pride, or questioning doctrines (which isn’t always a bad idea), or emotionally responding to bad news, or questioning God’s fairness or goodness, or always wanting evidence, or feeling disconnected perhaps by His silence or lack of answered prayer, or fear of the future, or failure to read and meditate on His promises, or just plain disobedience.

When a distraught father brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, he said, “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22–24)

This man knew that faith and doubt can co-exist. He trusted the Lord in one way or he would not have brought his son to Jesus, but he recognized his doubts too. The boy’s problem seemed beyond fixing and perhaps the father’s unbelief was blocking the miracle he wanted. He also recognized that he needed help from the Lord to fully believe He would do what was needed. In other words, faith is not something this man could just conjure up on his own. He knew it was a gift from God. Paul later affirmed this:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Without that compelling conviction, which is often called the assurance of faith, my mind will waffle between trusting God when I see or feel Him at work, and not being certain when nothing is happening. I fall into ‘walking by sight’ which is not faith at all.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

When my assurance is missing and I am waffling, the Lord is merciful with a solution. He says “faith comes by hearing” to those who did not yet have the NT. To me, faith comes that way and also by reading — because the Holy Spirit uses both to enlighten me. He wants me to know:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:13–15)

There is one element most necessary though, and that is to recognize and confess whatever is blocking or replacing faith. Just the list above points to the most common avenues of doubt: questioning doctrine, following emotions, questioning God’s goodness, seeking evidence, thinking He is not listening, fear, failure to read or remember His promises, or just plain disobedience that assumes my way will work, or is better than His way. If I have these or any other unconfessed sin in my life, the first thing to snap is being certain that God is who and what He says He is. It happened to Eve in the garden and “Did God really say…” is still the devil’s favorite tool.

PRAY: Jesus, I know the answers to doubt. Doing what I know is another issue — and it suggests that I don’t really believe the answers. I believe. When I falter and fail to trust You, help my unbelief.

Unbelief leads to unrest . . .

The New Testament is filled with assurance that those who believe in Jesus Christ are under the keeping power of God. That is, Christians are saved by grace through faith, not by what we do. This means we cannot do anything to become ‘unsaved’ either. Theologians call this ‘eternal security’ and the Holy Spirit assures believers that it is true.

However, there are a few passages of warning. The book of Hebrews was written to those experiencing great trials because of their faith and assures readers of their great salvation and the superiority of believing in Jesus. Some of them were considering going back to their pre-salvation religious beliefs. When they thought they could earn salvation by keeping the law, no one persecuted them making that system seem attractive in their suffering. However, the writer of Hebrews warned them:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12–19)

This reminder of the failure of their nation’s past efforts was a good one. Back then, those who heard the promise of God through Moses that they would be delivered from bondage in Egypt also needed to stick to it. Instead, some disobeyed in unbelief and died before reaching the freedom of the promised land. Just as these historical people of God sinned in unbelief, the writer of Hebrews warns his contemporaries not to make the same mistake.

Essentially, his warning is, “If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” That little word ‘if’ is key here. If they did not hear His voice, they had no hope. The Holy Spirit speaks to convict people of sin. If those who hear this message do not listen, they remain lost in their sin, not knowing God’s rest that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit always speaks to the children of God with guidance, assurance, direction, reminders, and so on. If those who hear His voice in these ways and do not listen, they remain struggling with sin instead of being set free to find the rest and assurance that is theirs because of their faith. Many Christians will attest to the reality of ‘no rest’ perhaps not realizing the problem — their faith is weak.

Tozer suggests that without the presence of the Holy Spirit speaking through our conscience as believers, no other voice would have any significance. That is the reason for ‘lack of rest’ in Christ. The Holy Spirit came as the divine Comforter who confirms Christ’s words and Christ’s work and Christ’s person. Unless I listen, I miss out on that assurance and understanding. I will also fail to have a deep awareness of Christ who lives in me. I may trust Him for forgiveness and my eternal salvation, but cannot be at rest, even as a believer, if my heart is filled with unbelief concerning everything else.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, forgive me for all the stuff that I’ve worried about and not trusted You with, things like my health, the salvation of those I love, and a host of other ‘in this life’ matters. If You can deliver me from the bondage of sin, then You can deliver me from the bondage of unrest, and of agitation when life does not go my way, and of worry about all sorts of things that I cannot control anyway. You say that those who are not at rest have a problem with a hard heart and unbelief. Forgive that in me whenever it threatens and no matter what causes it. I should never think that You are not sufficient for every problem and trial. Bless me with deeper and more comprehensive faith!

Obstacles to building a life of faith

Ezra 3:1–4:24, 1 John 3:11–18, Psalm 106:16–29

The exiles returned home from Babylon. They sang praises and gave thanks to the Lord, shouting in joy because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, but not all of them. “Many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid.” They remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple; this one was not so grand. (Ezra 3:11–13)

As the work was being done, their enemies tried to stop them. Their first ploy was the offer to “help out” but the heads in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” (Ezra 4:3)

In past weeks, I’ve compared the work of the Lord in the OT with His work in the NT. What happened physically in the past often points ahead to what will happen spiritually. For instance, deliverance from bondage in Egypt depicts how Christ comes to deliver His people from bondage to sin. Rebuilding the temple is like rebuilding a life after pulling away from God and wanting to come back to Him.

Yesterday we attended the funeral of a cousin. She was extremely well-liked in the community. Hundreds attended. I arrived with that sense of loss for a relative that I didn’t know very well. I left with a greater grief. Jesus Christ who gives eternal life was not mentioned. Instead, my cousin was highly praised. Another told me that she had wanted “nothing religious” at her funeral. She got her wish.

In Ezra, religious practices were halted while God’s people were in exile. When set free, they began to rebuild their spiritual lives by rebuilding their temple and their city. Today, the temple is the bodies of God’s people and we are continually at work building, rebuilding, and maintaining the kingdom of God as our lives are entrusted to the saving power of Jesus Christ. One of our biggest enemies is self-effort. Jesus said that apart from Him, we can do nothing. Relying on Him is vital to our spiritual health, so when the enemy comes along to thwart our efforts, it is often in the form of me thinking to myself that I have to help God do it.

Of course I must obey Him, but that is not the same as taking over, getting in His way, and having the subtle but devastating desire to do the work so I will get the glory, not thinking that when I do the work, His work ceases. This is what the enemies of the returned exiles were doing. They wanted to “help” but their actual purpose was to stop God from working.

This is what saddened me at the funeral. My departed cousin did all the work. God was not part of her life, so instead of bringing glory to Him with her ‘good life’ she got it all. Great pride flowed throughout the service without any praise to the Lord God who is the source of real goodness. The Bible says that, “We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Another ploy of the enemy is discouragement. Obeying God is a blessing, but it is not always easy. “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose . . . .”. (Ezra 4:4–5) Even “a life well-lived” as was said of my cousin can be a discouragement. Many Christians obey God and are persecuted instead of appreciated, looked down on instead of exalted. While we want Christ to be glorified as the One who gives us strength, we want that strength recognized not ridiculed.

A third ploy is the accusation from the enemy that we have no right to enjoy the salvation of God or His work in our lives. Those ancient believers were accused trying to undermine the king: “Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?” (Ezra 4:21–22)

The world believes that God wants to destroy all fun and put people in bondage to rules. Nothing could be farther from the truth, yet for many this is enough to put a stop to any spiritual progress. It is also enough to put hatred in the hearts of those for whom faith in Christ is a threat. They assume that Christians are their enemies.

God tells me, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” (1 John 3:12–13)

Most of the time people are too ‘nice’ to act out their attitude toward Christians, particularly at funerals. If we speak up, we are given toleration or are misunderstood. If we play ‘nice’ and fail to speak up with God’s answer to sin, self-effort, and death, we send people home thinking that having ‘a life well-lived’ is the way to eternal glory, and any talk about Jesus is not important.

The psalmist reminds me of what I must keep doing: “They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.” (Psalm 106:21–23)

God charges me to never to forget Christ nor others who have forgotten Him. I am to intercede for all who need to hear about and come to faith in Jesus Christ. He also charges me to love these people, not look down my nose at their lack of faith. How could I forget that without Him, I would be relying on living a good life too, instead of relying on my Savior.

Doubt and unbelief are not the same thing

How did the church in those darker ages treat doubt? They burned the heretic! How awful. Reformation brought us past that physically, but have we got past it morally? What does the modern church say to skeptics? We don’t burn them, but often brand those who cannot see the truths of Christianity as we see them.

In my studies this week, each lecture points to the fact that God alone reveals truth about Himself. If He did not do that, no one could know anything for certain. People would either say there is no God or invent one.

Because He reveals Himself, there is a difference between doubt and unbelief. That is, doubt cannot believe because God has not revealed Himself to that person. On the other hand, unbelief has had a revelation from God and refuses to believe it. The difference is between can’t and won’t.

There is good reason that Thomas has become known as “Doubting Thomas” rather than an apostate. He believed in some ways, but the resurrection was too much for him. He needed a revelation from God . . .

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:24–25)

Thomas struggled with news of the resurrection. He needed to see Jesus and Jesus accommodated him.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:26–27)

Most people remember the story only to this point, but there is more. Thomas responded to this very literal revelation with these words, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) These are words that even a doubter can say, but are never heard from the lips of those who refuse to believe.

Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt can’t believe, unbelief won’t believe. Doubt looks for light, unbelief is content with darkness. Jesus attacked that love of darkness rather than light, but was respectful and generous with the intellectual questioning of Thomas, Philip, Nicodemus, and many others who came to him with doubts.

I wonder if Thomas stood there waiting for a rebuke for his unbelief? If he did, that never happened. Instead, Christ gave him facts. He met those doubts with teaching. He said . . .

See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. (Luke 24:39)

Is it a surprise that the Spirit of Christ is a scientific Spirit? He grounded faith in facts, in historical realities, in a real person who really lived, died, and rose from the dead. Our Christian theology can never be nebulous human versions of who God is, but divine truths based on the facts that God has revealed about Himself.

Faith is not opposed to reality and truth. Instead, it flies in the face of our desires, what we want to be true. If I want to live my own life and make my own choices, I could never believe in Jesus Christ who promises truth and abundant life to all who follow Him. Doubt may not be certain of where that following will take me, but unbelief decides that I’d rather do my own thing than yield my life to Him.