**Sip Saturday is written by our Saturday morning contributor, M.H. Elrich. A beautifully gifted Christian author who seeks to honor the Trinity in her writing. She hopes that her words will encourage women to draw closer to God, whether that is through her fantasy series or her weekly devotionals.
Cornerstone Scripture:
“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
-Hebrews 3:19 KJV
Did you hear the news story about a group who tried to sneak into Area 51? In 2019, what started as a joke became the “Storm Area 51” event. Of course, no one actually stormed anything. In fact, only a few people dared try, and they were arrested. Most treated the event more like a party. After all, the American government made it very clear that Area 51 is a military facility and that trespassing is a federal crime, resulting in prison time and fees. I think most people knew, deep down inside, that they would never be allowed to see the interior of the base.
The Israelites could not enter the Promised Land, just like the people trying to get into Area 51, because of their unbelief. In order to understand what unbelief means, we need to understand what it means to believe.
For Christians, belief in God begins with belief in his existence and that he has revealed himself through his word. From this foundation, Christians trust in Jesus as the Son of God who died for our sins and rose from the grave. Faith arises from this trust and daily walking with the Lord.
Unbelief would then be the opposite; it would be called doubt. Doubt, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “call into question the truth of” or “to lack confidence in.” Although God welcomes questioning (see Job and others from the Bible), ultimately, doubt goes deeper than that. Doubt says, “I don’t believe in God or trust God’s Word.”
The Israelites doubted God. They doubted his existence, his Ten Commandments, his promises of a Messiah. They grumbled and complained. Worshipped a golden calf. Stubbornly refused to acknowledge everything God had done for them. Most of all, they doubted that God would help them conquer the “giants” walking the land (Numbers 13:33). This unbelief kept them from entering the Holy Land.
Don’t let doubts cloud your judgement. Ask God your questions and let him answer them through his Word and other believers. Don’t believe the lies of Satan, which whisper Did God really say? (Genesis 3:1). Like how a little poison taints the whole batch, little doubts can snowball into avalanches of unbelief. It can be hard to have faith and trust God in everything from repairing a relationship to providing funds to pay the bills. But as Christians, we are called to trust God through our doubts.
Let’s pray.
Dear Lord, as the father of the demon-possessed boy said, help me with my unbelief (Mark 9). When I doubt your Word or you, bring me evidence of your truth and conviction of your love. Help me to trust you until the end. In Your Son’s Name, Amen
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