Today's Myth: If God Gave Me a Sign, I Would Believe
You guys might have heard something like this before. Some folks like to claim that, if God would only give them some sign or proof of his existence, then they would believe.
Sometimes, it comes under the guise of scientific authority and great rationality: "If you can't prove to me that God exists, then why should I believe that he does?"
Sometimes, it takes the form of a hollow prayer: "God, if you would just help me get an A", or "God, if you would just make that handsome young man over there ask me out", or whatever, then I'll follow you.
Have you guys ever heard anything like this?
Both of these examples have their own problems, but they both spring from a deeper myth of which many people try to convince themselves: that their lack of faith is due to God's inability to prove his worthiness.
Read Romans chapter 1, v18-23.
- What do these verses say about man?
- by his unrighteousness, man suppresses the truth (about God) (v.18)
- God's divinity and power are made plain to man in created things (v.19-20)
- Man chooses the truth that he wants to choose: "[he] knew God [but] did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (v.21)
According to Paul, people who claim there is no God are liars, not just because what they claim isn't true, but because deep down, they know that God is there, but have just made a conscious effort not to honor him.
Read Mark 3:1-6 and then read Mark 6:1-6.
- Do you think that, prior to Jesus, people just went around miraculously healing other people?
- Nope.
- "to see whether he would heal . . . so that they might accuse him" (3:2)
- They plot to "destroy him" (3:6)
And so even in the face of Jesus' authority as God, which is proven to his opponents by his miraculous healing, these opponents want nothing more than to destroy him.
When Jesus is back in his hometown, the people marvel at his "wisdom [and] mighty works" (6:2), but they're just like the Pharisees. Instead of honoring him as God, they "[take] offense at him" (6:3).
Read Luke 16:19-31. Pay special attention to verses 27-31.
- In v.27, what does the rich man ask of Abraham?
- That he would send Lazarus to warn his family (v.27-28)
- What is Abraham's ultimate reply in v.31?
- That a sign, like someone coming from the dead, would still not
convince the rich man's faithless brothers
The Point
God has revealed himself in creation, in his Word, and, most abundantly, in his son Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian already, he has probably revealed himself to you in other ways more and more. You may have felt his hand behind your circumstances, or his Spirit guiding you in prayer or in action. And yet we still find ourselves demanding more of him. We dangle our faith in front of him like it's something he needs or for which he is in desperation. This is the God of the universe, and we should not put the Lord our God to the test. We need to repent of our pride, and we especially need to repent for so quickly dismissing the present power of his grace in our lives.
If you are not a Christian already, you still need to repent. You need to repent for knowing God but not honoring him, for willfully exchanging the truth about him for a lie, and for worshiping anything created instead of he who created it all.
My encouragement to you, Christian or not, is that Jesus' arms are open wide to receive your humble repentance and give you a new heart--a broken and contrite heart, which his Father will never despise.
