He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland. Psalm 106:9 (AMP)
This verse struck me. He turned the impassable impossibility into a meadow. And their terrified faces turned to expressions of amazement and joy. And after the roaring waves had crashed back down on there pursuing enemies they sang. (vs 10-12)
Soon they are on the boarder of a pleasant land. The one that has for generations been the promised possession of their people. Yet after all they have seen, they don't think He can give it to them. It's owned by impossibly powerful people!
It was unbelief that kept them out for another 40 years...wandering in the wilderness.
The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn't believe his promise to care for them. (vs 24 NLT)
At one point in the saga it says, They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. (v. 20 NLT)
They sound like a pretty dumb and wretched bunch...
Until you remember the times you've traded your glorious God for a "grass-eating bull".
No. We're not much better.
How many times have I lived doubt? Doubt that God could take care of me? Doubt that He would even want to? It's called unbelief. And it kept them out of the promised land. And it could be keeping me out too.
For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. Ev 696.2
This point comes out to me over and over again in the Bible.
And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58
So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. Hebrews 3:19
But there is hope! A father once struggled with unbelief. But Jesus did not send Him away. He only asked that he express his belief and show his faith, mustard seed though it was. And with that faith the Savior commanded demons to flee. And they did.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mar 9:23-24 KJV
When thoughts of unbelief and distrust come to you, remember that silence is eloquence. Speak no words of unbelief, for such words are as seeds that will spring up and bear fruit. CTr 120.6
Cast yourself at His feet with the cry, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." You can never perish while you do this--never. DA 429.1
Never.
Oh Father, forgive my unbelief, and may I never again turn from you to a grass-eating bull.
