Have you ever watched a scene in a movie when one of the main characters is obviously going to die and tries to communicate a final wish to their compatriot, only to be shushed and not allowed to say what they want? It’s always struck me as quite rude. The man is dying. Let him get the last word in! The person refusing to hear is in a state of denial. They don’t want to think about the eventual and inevitable outcome, and so they don’t. Sometimes, I wonder if I am doing this to God. With both pleasant and unpleasant information.
Bear with me and I will illustrate.
Story after story in the Bible, people came to Christ for a miracle, and story after story the miracle performed happened far away, not in front of them. They were granted their miracle because they believed His spoken words and then hustled back to the site where the miracle had been performed. They didn’t double check with Him and they didn’t ask for a receipt: He said it was done and they went back home to the product of their faith.
Mark 7 tells the story of a woman who had a daughter with an unclean spirit possessing her. The woman approached Christ and fell at His feet, begging Him to cast the spirit out of her daughter. They have a conversation and at the end Christ says simply: “For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter” (Verse 29). Just like that! He didn’t say it would go out, He said it IS gone out. I don’t know about you, but at that moment, I probably would have needed a little convincing. I probably would have wanted to know how I could be sure. This woman did not need any further reassurances. She took Christ at His word and returned home to her healed daughter: “And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed” (verse 30).
Why is it that today we struggle to believe the Bible, God’s inspired, preserved, and written Word, when it reveals a promise from God? Is it harder to trust His Word when we read a promise such as:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asked receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Why can’t I seem to take God at His Word like the woman whose daughter was possessed by a devil?! Her request seems astronomically difficult. Yet, she heard Christ’s response and offered no rebuttal or insecure request for assurances. I want to have that level of belief: to hear or read a promise from Scripture and to fully accept it. Seems simple enough.
On the other side of that same coin: why do I struggle to take God’s Word at faith value when a consequence for sin is expressed? When a lesson is revealed? In Mark 8, Peter was the person fussing at the Lord for talking about His death. He didn’t want to believe what was being said. I can see it in my mind: The Lord is sharing with His disciples that this event is coming and Peter interrupts with, “Don’t say those things.” Or “Don’t talk like that.” The Bible says, “And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him” (verse 32b).
Can’t you see it? Peter gets flustered, not wanting to think about the Lord dying and pulls Him to the side to tell him to stop talking that way. Only to be met with a stern rebuke in return: “But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”
Wow! Peter must have felt the sting of that rebuke. Here he was, trying to help Christ not be negative about dying and he’s called “Satan” for his troubles? Yes. Because instead of accepting the Word of Christ for what it was, the Words of God and expression of His Will for that event, Peter wanted his own way. Of course he didn’t want Christ to die, but what Peter wanted was irrelevant to listening to Christ and accepting His Word.
Sometimes we do the same thing as Peter. We read a portion of Scripture that expresses a consequence for disobedient and sinful behavior, and we blow it off… surely it wasn’t meant for us! We hear a sermon that teaches a lesson – realizing that if we believe it, we would need to make a change in our life or behavior – and we say in our hearts, “Posh, God wouldn’t really send harsh consequences into my life, He loves me!”
What about Proverbs 3:12? “For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” God loves His children, and this is a promise that He absolutely will correct us when we are doing wrong because of that love. We have no way of knowing what that correction will look like, but we can believe that it will come, because the Bible says so.
Do we really believe what the Bible says? Do we let it have the last word? Do we hear it, soak it into our hearts, and let it have the final say? Or do we respond in our minds with a rebuke or a deflection when we don’t like what we heard? Do we respond to the promises of the Bible with doubt in our hearts?
When I cannot let the Bible have the last word, I want to blame insecurities for my inability to believe a promise, or a warning. But perhaps I should be honest with myself and admit it is a lack of faith. It’s easy to say that the promises of Psalms were good for David, but what is God going to do for me today? It’s easy to say that the consequences for not obeying the Bible applied in the Old Testament, but I’m living under grace because I’m saved and already forgiven. What would my life look like if I took the promises of the Bible, pleasant and unpleasant, and truly applied them to how I live my life? If I had enough faith to ask the Lord for help, like the mother in Mark 7, and then walked away with confidence that my petition was granted? What would my life look like if I have enough fear of the Lord and His consequences as my Heavenly Father that I let that fear keep me from decisions I know are sinful and disobedient? What would need to change in my life? We cannot expect to willfully disobey the Word of God without consequence.
Today, let’s choose to let God’s Word have the last word. Let’s choose to grow our faith by saying in our own hearts about His promises: “Lord, you said it and so I am going to believe You will fulfill Your promise.” Let’s also choose to believe that the Lord will correct us when we disobey Him and live in the fear of the Lord and His correction – as children with a good relationship with their father: knowing that He desires to reward our choices and is ready to administer consequences for disobedience.
