“Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God
furnish a table in the wilderness…can he give bread also? can he provide flesh
for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth: so a fire was
kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; because they
believed not God and trusted not in his salvation.” (Psalm 78:19, 21-22)
Want to really make God mad? Just doubt His ability to take care of you.
He will consider it a direct insult to His character. We may put faithlessness
low on the totem pole of sins, but God doesn’t. Romans 14:23 tells us, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” And
the writer of Hebrews describes a heart of unbelief as downright “evil” (3:12).
You and I may
become greatly exercised over sins of the flesh (as we well should), while at
the same time consider our fretting and fussing as merely shortcomings and
weaknesses. Yet the woman caught in adultery and Zacchaeus, the crooked tax
collector, were both dealt with far more kindly than the people spoken of in
this Psalm. The first two were sinners, yes, who needed to repent; but they did
not question Jesus when He offered them forgiveness. They took Him at His word.
The children of Israel, on the other hand, after having seen God miraculously
provide for them time and time again, still questioned Him. And when they did,
the Psalmist accused them of speaking against God. What could be worse than
that?
Why risk the anger
of God? We should deal with unbelief as we would any other sin and experience
the same peace promised to those who repent of their wickedness. God has promised
to save us (v.22) and take care of us (v.19). And to deny this verbally or
experientially is to speak against Him, bad-mouth Him, if you will. There’s no
getting around it.
When it comes to God and His attributes
and abilities, there is no such thing as “honest doubt.”
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