Thursday, November 21, 2024
In my daily reading, I am still moving along in the book of Matthew. Today, I am going to share what is sort of a heavy scripture, but I think we can all find value from it. Let’s start with Matthew 27:42:
42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
When I read the part “and we will believe Him”, my heart got a little heavy. In the verse before we are told that this is part of the mocking from the chief priests and scribes. Based on their responses to all the other miracles that they saw Jesus do, I have a feeling that even if He saved Himself, they would not believe Him. After all, He raised people from the dead, cured the incurable, delivered those who were possessed by innumerable demons and all they did was accuse Him of being part of the kingdom of the devil.
But that isn’t what I really want to focus on today. While we have never been confronted with this exact situation, we have all found ourselves in the place of deciding between complete faith in Jesus or something inferior to that. Some of the thoughts that have probably gone through one or all of our minds: “Lord, if You provide the funds I need, then I will believe”, “If You will save my child, then I will believe”, “If You heal my body, then I will believe”, “If you show my spouse how to love me, then I will believe”, “If you provide the house, or the career, or the car, then I will believe”.
Like many other things in the kingdom of opposites, what if God is looking for us to fully believe before we see the evidence of that belief? Can we see that financial need met, that body healed or that prodigal child returned home with our spiritual eyes before we see it with our natural eyes? Let’s look at Romans 4:18-21 (NIV):
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
One of the greatest stories of faith is the 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah who had a child despite all their natural deficiencies. Abraham never once wavered in his faith. When God gives us a promise do we fully believe Him? Can we see that promise fulfilled before it is here? When the enemy starts with his lies that we must not have heard correctly or that God has forgotten or that we have disqualified ourselves, remind the enemy that God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19)!
Final Thoughts…
Every time I read a passage in the Bible regarding the Pharisees disbelief of Jesus, it saddens my heart a little. But it doesn’t take too long before I realize that I too have places where I am not fully trusting Him. Those places where fear creeps in, impatience tick-tocks in the background, anger bubbles up like a hot spring or a black cloud of heaviness settles in like the morning fog shows me that I too have areas that are not faith-filled. Lord, show us those places where we need You to help our unbelief. Help us to deal swiftly with anything that is keeping us from believing You and Your Word with every fiber of our being.