Unbelief

"The man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain! And it will be said: 'Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.'"

-Isaiah 57:13-14

It is amazing what God promises us. When we truly take refuge in the Almighty God, we are completely changed and made holy. We also are beyond privileged to experience a path set before us. We do not need to make plans, we just have to submit. Wait, so I have to submit--everything!? I feel like so many things get in the way of following God's true plan for my life. My heart and mind desire to follow God's plan alone. I have experienced other roads that were lead by my own selfishness and they were complete dead ends. They led me nowhere except into heartache and depression. I don't want to take those roads, I want my eyes to be set on nothing but my King. But, what about all these obstacles that get in my way? The obstacles that blind me and allow me to feel like I can't even see God's road? Those obstacles are no match for God. In Isaiah 57:13-14 stated above, God demands obstacles to be removed from his people's journey--including my own. This is God's desire for our journeys--to be obstacle free--but yet, we still encounter them. Why? We have to BELIEVE that God truly desires this for our journeys and we have to BELIEVE that God can truly destroy the obstacles that stand in our way. So in reality, our biggest obstacle is UNBELIEF.

Romans 4:3 quotes Genesis 15:6 which says, "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

In the Genesis verse, the Hebrew word for "believed" is 'aman and it means to make firm...to stand firm, to be enduring; to trust. In the Romans verse, the Greek word for "believed" is pisteuo and it means "to be firmly persuaded as to something, to believe with the idea of hope and certain expectations. The Greek word for "unbelief" is apistos, meaning "not worthy of confidence, untrustworthy...a thing not to be believed." NOT WORTHY? God is not worthy of my confidence? Ouch. This makes my heart just cry in pain. How can I not think my powerful, holy, perfect God is not worthy? The Lord has brought me a very long way in changing my unbelief into full belief. However, searching my heart completely, as much as it hurts to admit...there are still areas of my life that contain unbelief. Numbers 23:19 states, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"

I have found myself in the past comparing God to man. I have been let down so many times by human friends and family members. Trust is something that takes a great deal of time for me to fully have in someone. In fact, I don't know if I could even consider myself knowing what true trust looks like because my family does not have deep conversations. We do not talk about deep secrets and we certainly have not built up deep trust levels. The trust I know of is nothing compared to the trust God has to offer me. Yet, I used to continually go back to days of brokenness and compare God to the imperfect humans in my life. As of today, my trust level with God has changed radically. I trust God with so many things other people have no idea about. God is my true secret keeper and He is my most trustworthy companion. I can honestly say that God has teared down walls of fear and has never let me down as I have put trust into Him. If we're willing to admit our lack of confidence in Him, Christ is MORE than willing to help us overcome our unbelief. One of the biggest areas I admit I still have unbelief in is that Christ can set ANYONE free from captivity. I have experienced leading 2 best friends to Christ and even my own sister....but after saying the prayer for salvation I have seen absolutely no life change. I know this is not of me to change their hearts completely but I do not understand. I know the enemy is real and snatches away hope so quickly. I just want to see these people set free like I am constantly experiencing--but I just haven't. In Luke 4:18, Jesus says that he is sent by the Father for the purpose of proclaiming freedom for the prisoners. Lord, pierce my ugly, unbelieving heart with this truth. Allow this truth to reign over the lies that say You cannot set my friends and sister free. Lord, You are worthy of all that I am. You are worthy of all praise in this universe. You ALONE are worthy of anything, really. Lord, You are willing to bring us a life of true freedom--help us to believe that and truly run after You alone for it.

Do you truly believe God is worthy of your confidence in Him for freedom?