Matthew 11:5 - Seeing Is Believing...Or Is It?

Thursday 3/22/12 – Seeing Is Believing…Or Is It?

Matthew 11:5 – The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Interpretation:    

     Seeing is believing! That’s a common misconception. Seeing is not equivalent to believing. I’ll prove it. If you’ve ever seen a magic trick, you saw something disappear or happen right before your eyes, but you know that it had to be some kind of trick. You don’t believe that what you are seeing is actually happening but rather you realize that it’s just an illusion.

     “Man, if I only lived back in Jesus’ day and saw everything He did, my faith would be so great!” we sometimes tell ourselves. This, however, is not necessarily the case. Many people saw the miracles that Jesus did – things that only God could do – yet many of them still did not believe in Him. Some of them, like many of the religious leaders, wanted to be blind and so God let them.

     Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the complete opposite of what the religious leaders of Jesus’ day had. They saw the miracles and did not believe in Jesus; faith, on the other hand, doesn’t see but believes anyway.

     Perhaps God has given you a promise but circumstances are looking dim. Maybe you’re starting to have doubts that God really gave you that promise you thought He did. Perhaps you feel as though you’re losing faith and just wish you can see a sign. But signs and living by sight is not how God has called us to walk as Christians. Instead, “…the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk2:4b).

     When Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His apostles, but Thomas wasn’t there. Thomas said that he wouldn’t believe until he actually saw and touched the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and put his hand in Jesus’ side. Later, Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him to touch Him and not to be unbelieving anymore. Thomas believed, but in John 20:29 Jesus says, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

     In this verse, Jesus is talking about faith. So while we as Christians might be longing for God to work through signs and show us things in order to help us through our current trials, while we might wish that we were alive when Jesus was on this earth and that we would see some of the miracles of the Old and New Testament, there is a blessing in living by faith and not by sight. It might just be that once we learn how to trust God and live by faith, we can have peace and joy when the rest of the world is panicking.

     So instead of wishing that you could see the answer to whatever your problem may be, I suggest that you instead embrace any and every opportunity you have to live according to faith. Eventually, things will start to make sense as God starts to reveal a little of what He’s doing in your life. But by the time you see it, it will be too late for you to exercise your faith. So in the midst of a trial and confusion, you are at a unique opportunity to let your faith grow. So instead of seeking a sign, simply thank God for the things He’s going to do in and through you and your situations even before you see how He’s going to do it. I’m telling you, sight will eventually come and our trials will eventually be over; let’s just have a little faith.
 
Application:

     Lately, I’ve been praying to God to make some changes in my life so that I’ll be more of the person He wants me to be. I know He will continue the perfect work He has started in me, and therefore, by faith I will today thank Him for what He’s going to do in my life even though I can’t completely see it yet.