November 1 - The Sin of Unbelief
For those of us who share in a heavenly calling, we must consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Like Moses, we must be faithful in God’s house. We can only be His house if we hold fast to our confidence and our boasting in our hope. When we are in such a position, we may enjoy the rest that is in Christ. This is why we must continually hold on to our original confidence firm to the end. What can take this away from us is the sin of unbelief.
The Israelites’ rebellion against God in the wilderness is a good example of unbelief. They tested God, hardened their hearts even after seeing God’s works for forty years. They went astray in their heart and had not known God’s ways. As a result, they were not able to enter into God’s rest, the Promised Land. They lost the inheritance that was rightfully theirs because of the sin of unbelief.
An unbelieving heart is evil, from the devil and not from God. It leads us away from the living God. The deceitfulness of sin can harden our hearts. Repeated sins make us harder and harder as we try to justify what we do. We ignore the warnings by the Holy Spirit and lose our confidence in Christ. Instead of resting in Jesus, we are restless without Jesus. All God’s promises seem to be far away from us and we cannot hear the voice of God any more. We are provoking God into anger and the result could be devastating.
A sure sign of unbelief is fear. When we do not have confidence in the Lord, as we do not trust Him fully, fear may creep into our lives. We doubt God’s Word and His voice. Like Ezekiel, we must receive the Holy Spirit’s strengthening and empowering. The Spirit went into Ezekiel so he could stand up, the Spirit fell upon him so that he might receive power. God told him not to fear, not be afraid of the people even if they did not listen to the Word of God through him. The confidence of the prophet in delivering God’s Word was directly proportional to his faith and belief in the One who sent him.
Do you have fears in your life? Is there a fear of the future, a fear of man or a fear of failure? Any fear in your life is exposing a part of your unbelieving heart. The process of sanctification is actually done by evangelizing your unbelieving heart. Speak to yourself about God’s love, about God’s power to guard and to keep. He is you Shepherd and you shall not want. All these biblical truths about God are not only true, they must also be believed in order to take effect in your life. Start today to evangelize your unbelieving heart. When you read His Word, read it for yourself. Talk to your heart and cast out all unbelief. Act on your beliefs about God and the fears will be gone. Confess your sin of unbelief now.
Ps 119:81:88 Ezek 1:1-3:15 Heb 3:1-19 Prov 26:24-26