Wrong-Belief

Last night in our home group we were talking about unforgiveness and being offended, and how that is a form of unbelief, or believing wrongly.  This tied in well with some of the recent sermons on the promises of God and being clothed by God (and how we deal with our mistakes).  Anyway it was a good conversation and as we were talking I was reminded of some verses I had read a few days earlier, from Jeremiah 17:5-8 NIV:

[5] “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, 

who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 

[6] That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; 

they will not see prosperity when it comes. 

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 

[7] “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 

[8] They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. 

It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. 

It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

I remember the first time I read these verses, the message was so clear, if we try to do things our way, we will screw things up.  If we trust tin the Lord, things will go well.

The reason I was reminded of this was that we were talking about how unbelief is often times believing the wrong thing, or believing the wrong voice.  Going back to Scripture, the first case we have of this is found in Genesis, where Eve believes the snake instead of God (see Gen 3:1-6)!  

In our daily lives we often find this subtly at play in what voice we choose to listen to?  The old devil and angel on one’s shoulder is a humorous example of what many if not all of us deal with, often without our knowledge, or awareness.  I know in my life I have learned to be aware of where my thoughts originate, for not all appear to come from my brain.  

There are times when I will be assaulted with thoughts condemning someone, or judging someone and none of it with evidence to support it,or previous thought lines that would lead me to end up there.  Often these thoughts are accusing in nature, and when that occurs, I have learned to identify these thoughts as originating with the accuser (Rev. 12:10).

Other times I find myself not trusting God’s plans.  One of the things our Pastor said, in talking about Promises of God, is that they don’t look like we think they will, and that is a problem for many of us.  We think God should act a certain way, based on His promises, or on something we heard someone say, and when that doesn’t pan out we start doubting whether God loves us, whether He cares at all, or even whether He exists.

I recently had a long struggle with the Lord in that I didn’t like the way it appeared His plans were leading me, and I tried for several years to change things through my own efforts, none of which were successful.  I found myself more and more frustrated, and thinking, “seriously Lord, this is your idea of fulfilling your promise?!”  Not exactly a prayer of faith!

As I was struggling through this time, I found myself often thinking accusatory thoughts about God, and one day He stopped me and said, “am I on trial, if so, which side of the courtroom are you on, the prosecutor or the defender?”  I immediately knew I had been listening to the wrong voice, believing the wrong voice and repented and asked for forgiveness, for I was judging God, “Yikes!” something I am fully incapable of doing at all!  

Surprisingly, very shortly after that experience all of a sudden the path the Lord was leading me down changed and I could see the fulfillment of the Promise coming towards me, better than I could have imagined, or certainly accomplished on my own.

This morning I am encouraged to carefully consider my thoughts and actions, my motivations and expectations.  I am encouraged to ascertain the original source of what I am believing and pursuing.  I am encouraged to make sure I am trusting in God and not in man-made ways, whether of my own creation of someone else's. 

Lord, I pray that You open my eyes to any areas of unbelief, or wrong-belief in me, that I might be aware so that i can change my thinking and my actions! Help me to recognize and reject the accusations of the accuser, and hold firmly to Your Word and Promises!

Amen!