The Terrifying Possibilities of Unbelief

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin…So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12-13, 19)

Everything in the Christian life operates on faith. Faith has two wings: dependency and expectancy (see Hebrews 11:6) Without both those responses to God, we will never turn to Him nor receive from Him all that He has promised. 

THE REASON FOR HIS PROMISES

Have you ever stopped to consider why God has placed over 7,000 promises in His letter to us, the Bible? It is because these promises reveal God to us and are the primary means of connecting us to Him and His agenda. His promises are not nice little devotional ideas, but the hard building blocks of foundational living. The tracks upon which we are to move. 

For instance, you are facing a normal human experience, the lack of finances and your inability to resolve the current problem. As you read the word you see one of God’s promises:

“My God shall supply all of your needs through His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)

Now, at that point, you have a choice. Will you turn to God in dependency and expectancy (faith) or just try to work this out on your own? Will you rest in His provision and timing and His faithfulness or not? Will you ignore God as He shouts to you about cooperating with Him or join Him?

Or broaden this illustration to the issue of national revival. Our nation is in serious shape. What shall we do? We can fret and stew and complain. We can take the route of trying to adjust the government by any means possible to us. Or, we can look in the Bible. We can see the manifold promises about revival that God gives and we can join Him in His eternal activity. 

“Our country is in trouble. Therefore, let’s believe His promise that if we will ‘humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways’ He will heal our land”(2 Chronicles 7:14).

What if we never took the route of believing His promise and trusting Him? We could potentially miss the entire plan of God for nationwide revival, simply because our unbelief led to our wrong activity. 

WHY HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL

When you chose to believe Him, He always holds true to His promises for several reasons. First, He cannot lie. It’s impossible because of His character. What He promises to do He will do. Second, the whole PURPOSE of the promise is to get us into His way of operation and living in sync with Him. He has everything to gain by providing when you trust His promise of provision. 

WE SHOULD FEAR

Our greatest caution should not be about God, but ourselves. God has made thousands of promises to us about every human experience, both personally and corporately. Am I trusting Him? Am I living on the promises? Making every move upon that basis, or not? If not, I will miss Him and miss life. I will become a mere caricature of what true life really is and I will miss God.

And, if I miss God, no one around me will discover His glory through my life. I may even be aborting His activity for an entire nation. A frightening loss.