Believe God

2 Chronicles 20:20, ESV

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” 

We have to believe God. 

Hearing the words of God does not establish us (make us firm), believing them does.

Hearing the words of God does not cause us to succeed (advance, prosper), believing them does. 

We can hear the promises of God, but until we believe them in our soul, we will still be wobbly and stuck—because we’ll be trying to shoulder a weight that belongs to God. 

We can take this principle all the way back to Moses and the Israelites when they were standing at the edge of the promised land. They heard the promises of God, but they did not believe. Therefore, they cried out in fear and despair all night long, and they did not advance (they were not established, and they did not succeed).

So how can we know if we’re walking in unbelief? 

We’ll feel worry and despair and stagnancy.

And how can we know if we’re walking in belief?

We’ll feel peace and hope and movement.

Our feelings can be our thermometer to gauge the measure of our belief. 

If we truly believe, we won’t carry the weight—even if we have to put it back on God’s shoulders every single day. 

And when we realize we’re struggling to believe God, we must resolve to fill our minds with truth, even speaking it out loud if we need to. We must resolve to worship—just as Jehoshaphat led his people to do in the next verse. And we must never be ashamed to ask God to help us believe—just as the desperate father who went to Jesus in Mark 9 for the healing of his demon-possessed son asked Jesus:

 “I believe; help my unbelief!”  

Oh Lord, thank you that you are always fighting for us. When we struggle to believe you, help our unbelief. Amen.