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very special kind of relationship.
Christ knew that the Father was
able to see Him through the whole
experience, so He became subject to
death, endured many temptations,
and died
in
faith-believing without
a doubt that God the Fáther would
resurrect Him from death.
Thoughts of distrust, trickery,
jealousy and envy go through the
minds of human beings at times–
but
God is not that way.
He cannot
and will not sin because He has set
Himself not to (see Ti tus l :2; I John
3:9). And we have proof of the ab–
solute purity and sincerity of His
word and His intentions: He gave
up His life as Creator of the uní–
verse, staking it on the word of an–
other member of the God family, so
that aU of us could live forever.
Believlng God's Word
God's Word has a great deal to say
about you, what you are and where
you are going. God, wbo does not
lie, has the capacity to grant eterna!
life. He knows how to give you the
kind of life tbat He has. He not only
knows how- He
says He's willing to
do
it!
Now how much do you
believe
that? Do you doubt that God would
do it? Many times we want God to
prove things to us. We're like Gi–
deon. Before we go into battle as
God has commanded, we want to
see the fleece on the ground in the
moming with the proper degree of
dampness. (Read Judges 6-8 for the
full story of Gideon and what it
took to make
him
believe God.)
If your faitb is strong, you won't
doubt the fact that God does not líe.
Now that's easy to say, and in sorne
ways academically easy to under–
stand. But you know that in prac–
tica! fact, when you have dangers
facing you- when you have prob–
lems tha t you perhaps cannot un–
derstand, like Gideon did-it's very
easy to doubt.
But, on the other hand, when
there
is
reason to doubt, the mea–
sure of your faith is how much you
believe God in spite of the physical
circumstances around you. You can
also measure your faith by the de–
gree of doubt you feel when you
read in the Bible that God is alive
and does exist. The fact tbat H e has
eterna! life is verified by the fact
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1977
that you're here. (For a fuller
discussion o f tbis point, write
for tbe free booklet
Does God
Exist?)
So how do you know you bave
faith? When your conduct, way of
thinking, purpose in life, motives
and intentions are in harmony with
the purposes and plans of God. lf
your life is pattemed a long these
lines, that says you have faith!
lt
speaks louder than anyone can
shout. You don't have to say,
"J
am
living in the fa ith." What you do
with your life says that, without
your ever uttering a word (James
2: 18). lt simply boils down to be–
Jieving that God does not lie. And to
God is the one Being on whom
you can count; the Being who
wi/1 always say and do what is
right. And the degree to
which you believe that wi/1
determine the way you live.
believe that God does not lie is a
strong motivation.
The Mlstake of Unbelief
There are examples throughout the
Bible ofindividuals who lost faith in
God, who began to doubt whether
God was teUing tbe truth. This is
what happened to Adam and Eve.
God told them one thing, but they
had other ideas introduced into
their minds by Satan the devil. They
started to disbelieve what God
clearly said. What Satan told them
looked logical, sounded reason–
able-but it was stiU wrong.
When Eve Jooked at the fruit, it
looked harmless; it looked good. It
didn't have big warts al! over it, or
big green worms crawling out of it.
It
looked just like any other deli–
cious, delectable fruit anywhere else
in the rest of the garden. It was
beautiful- nice and juicy. It had a
good feel to it. So Eve probably
thought to herself: "Well now, let's
just back off and readdress tbe situ–
ation. This fruit is all right- it looks
good and it smells good. 1 don't get
shocked when I touch it. ..." She
began reasoning that it would be all
right to eat it, even though God had
given a simple command not to. She
just didn't believe God.
Then once she had convinced
Adam to eat the fruit and the deed
had been done, God carne down
and reprimanded them both. He
said in effect: "You two didn ' t be–
lieve me. I told you one thing;
somebody else told you something
else and you fell for it. Now you are
going to reap the result." The rest of
the story is history.
In a nutshell, Adam blew it. He
turned the experience into a disaster
for himself and bis family. And it
was all due to a lack of faith. He
simply stopped believing God.
King Saul of ancient Israel is an–
other classic example of unbelief. In
the beginning of his reign, Saul was
humble. He was basically obedient,
but like many human beings who
are given a certain amount of
power, he began to slip. He was
given definite instructions by God,
but he didn' t follow them. He began
to develop a pattern of unbelief, of
disobedience.
When faced with the prospect of
having his entire army desert him
on the eve of battle, Saul "forced"
himself to make an offering to God
that could legally only be made by a
priest. He did this because Samuel,
God's prophet, didn ' t arrive in time
to "ask the blessing" on this particu–
lar battle. But according to God's
instructions, Saul was not supposed
to make that offering under any cir–
cumstances. lt was not his job.
But his reasons for disobedience
were logical. When Samuel caught
bim in the act, so to speak, Saul
replied: " Look, the people were
starting to scatter, and you didn't
come when you said you would, and
the Philistines were all ready to
fight.
1
was in danger! These people
over here with spears and swords
don't mean us any good! They plan
to tear my head off; they mean busi–
ness. What did you expect me todo?
The lives of the people were at
stake-isn't that a good reason for
offering something to God?" But
Samuel replied: "You have done
foolishly ; you have not kept the
commandment of the Lord your
God, which He commanded you."
The Bible tells us that after this
Saul got in the habit of not adhering
to God's instructions explicitly. A
pattern began to develop in his life,
a pattern of unbelief. Samuel was
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