I just got back in town from a week-long camp with my church community. During the week I had the opportunity to speak to young people about their faith.
This morning I was spending some time in John 4. In verse 46 Jesus is approached by an official, perhaps Roman since this time was during Rome’s dominance. The official’s son was very sick to the point of death, as was very common during this day. In verse 48 Jesus says to this man, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Maybe Jesus was frustrated with the unbelief of people around, I don’t know. But when I read that verse it was as if Jesús was directing those words to me. Sometimes God has asked me to do something and it’s hard to just go off His word. Unless I see a sign I do not believe. Jesús wanted this man to believe His word blindly. In vs 50 the man believed Jesús’ word and at that same moment his son was healed (vs 52).
Is it wrong to ask for signs? Gideon comes to mind in the Old Testament book of Judges chapter 6. The story goes that the angel of God comes to a man named Gideon and told him to rise up and free the Jews from the Midianites’ oppression. Midian and Amalek were oppressing the Jews for seven years and starving them of their harvest when crops were ready to be reaped. What this angel was asking was not something easy to do, it was actually a ludicrous idea. Gideon was in hiding and this angel was asking him to recruit men to fight against an enemy the Bible stated that in number “they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number:” If he was going to go through with this, Gideon wanted confirmation that God would be with him through this. So Gideon asked for a sign, not once, but twice (Judges 6.36-40). For believers it’s easy for us to judge Gideon, doubting the almighty God. Although for others, we can actually identify with Gideon, myself included. I am a believer today, but I several times doubted before, and identified with this man. Since my childhood I was told taught to believe the Bible. Then when I started to read the Bible I discovered that it states there is a God Who is actually Creator and Judge of the universe. Then God sent His only Son to be born of a virgin woman, and then Jesús lived a sinless life without error for 33 years. Then on top of that, this man Jesús died and He rose from the dead…I mean doesn’t that all sound absurd? Logically this just did not make sense to me.
So one night very nervously I wanted to try this avenue of communication called “prayer.” Like Gideon, I wanted proof, evidence, that God was real. I needed to know whether or not I was wasting my time with the Bible and this life called Christianity. In Judges 6 Gideon asked for a sign from God that was humanistic-ally impossible, it was supernatural, something that man could not do. When I prayed and asked this God to show me if He was real, and actually listening to my words, the unexpected and inexplicable happened – He actually answered. And to be sure, I asked again, and yet again He answered. What we see in John 4, in Judges 6-7, and what I have witnessed in my personal life is called faith. In order to believe in God, faith is required. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things we hope for, the evidence of things that are not seen. Faith is proof that the unseen things are actually real. Faith defies human logic. As unbelievers state, the Bible does not make sense, and you’re right, at least to me it did not make sense, until I learned faith. I am a believer not just because of research and study of how we have a Bible today, and the facts that witness that it is true, but also because I have asked this God to show me that He is real. And every time I have asked, He has answered and when He answers it has defied and defeated my logic. Sometimes God doesn’t right away, but He always does answer.
If you’re reading this and you do not believe, maybe you’re in a naive position where God has just never become real to you, or maybe everyone around you thinks you believe, but you don’t want to openly admit that you don’t know because you’re afraid of what people might say – I’ve been there. One of my favorite passages in Jesús’ life is Mark 9.20-27. A desperate father brought his son to Jesús. His son was possessed with a demon, and the disciples had already tried to cast the demon out but they could not. Jesús addressing the father said, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” The father in desperation answered, “I believe; help my unbelief!” I have prayed these same words so many times when I doubt, “God I want to believe, help my unbelief!” Someone once told me, “Doubt mingles with faith all the time.” I think doubt is a seed that Satan puts in our hearts time and time again, and it is something that we might battle with over and over again. But what is amazing is that we have a God that is merciful and kind enough to prove His existence to us when we need it. Nothing builds your faith more than when you see God come through in your personal life. Today I do believe His word, but it took me a while to get there.
If you don’t believe, will you at least give faith a chance, and ask God to show you if He is real? You have nothing to lose, you can only win in this situation.
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