WHAT GOD THINKS OF UNBELIEF
Psalm 78 and 105

The Bible admonishes us to take care lest there be in us an “evil heart of unbelief.” If that truth is not enough to cause us to learn to trust Him, then consider how much of God’s Word is devoted to the subject of belief and unbelief. It is staggering. As you daily turn the pages of Scripture in your time alone with the Lord, if you read with this topic in mind, you will see that no matter where you are…in the prophets, the Psalms, the epistles or the gospels…God is driving home a point about trusting Him.

When I was a teenager, I discovered two Psalms which changed my life: Psalms 78 and 105. Both of these Psalms are recaps of the travels of the Israelites from Egypt to the land flowing with milk and honey, and they are saturated with lessons for life. If you are a person that seeks to hear from Almighty God as you read His Word, you will be touched on the subject of trusting Him.

A couple of phrases have persistently stuck with me since that first encounter with these two reports of God’s dealings with Israel. The first is the statement, “They limited the Holy One of Israel.” Let me say that when I read this first time, I was shocked! My initial response was to wonder why they would do that after watching the east wind open a pathway in the sea and feeling the dry ground beneath their feet with the enemy in hot pursuit. How could they doubt His power after such evidences of it in the astounding plagues and accompanying protection of the Jews in Egypt?

That was my initial reaction. Not too far after it, however, I recognized myself between the lines. Being 15 or 16 at the time, I did not have a great history of not believing God, nor was I old enough or had faced an ample amount of life, to have much of a history of needing to trust Him. Yet, here again, two things happened. I did know in my heart that I had not learned to truly believe God about my steps with Him, and I sensed a surge in my spirit to do my best to live my life so as not to “limit the Holy One of Israel.” I wanted to know Him as a God who would do what He had promised.

The second phrase that grabbed my attention was a question the Israelites must have murmured to each other when they were hungry and food in the near future did not look hopeful. “Can God provide a table in the wilderness?” they asked. (See July Day 19) How many times I have purposely recalled that part of the wilderness wanderings story, I don’t know. In the face of mounting bills and even the lack of food, I would remind myself not to question the power of God. It was my desire to never allow that spirit to have any part of my life. The pages of the sacred Scriptures which I was just beginning to really grasp, were filled stories of an amazing, all-powerful, loving, faithful, and just God. I was sad that the Jews, in a spirit of unbelief that evidenced itself over and over again all the way from Egypt to their response to the report of the spies, chose to question such a mighty God.

Though I do not have a sterling record in the matter of believing God, I can say that my response to my first awareness of these two phrases…and the entire chapters…was that I longed to never limit, in my heart, the Holy One of Israel, or to ever ask, even in the direst of circumstances if God could provide for me, for us.

God says He takes pleasure in those that trust in Him. The gospels tell us that Jesus marveled two times: once because of unbelief and once at the faith of a man who came to Him for help. In my mind, the only way to avoid a spirit of unbelief is to dive into God’s Word with the purpose of discovering the truth about His power and character. Then…it’s much easier to believe what He has to say!

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