Psalm 78:22, 32 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation…For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
It seems amazing to us that God’s saved people would turn so quickly and believe not in God nor trust in his salvation. The Lord had miraculously delivered them in the Exodus, appeared on the mountain, and miraculously provided for them in the desert. Yet they still did not believe or trust, which is a sin. What more could He have done for His people to convince them to trust Him? Because of unbelief they suffered countless troubles.
The human in us says, “I’ll believe God when I see it. I don’t see Him so I don’t believe Him.” We are like Doubting Thomas, not knowing that believing is seeing, for that one is blessed who has not seen Me and yet has believed. The truth is that the unbelief in us does not see. I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel. The Spirit, through the Word, reveals God to us and convinces us of His Love. For this work of faith and life worked in us by the Spirit we can only respond with thanks and joy.
Such faith is as close to us as our heart and lips, but we realize that unbelief is also close to us and a part of our lives as sinners. In a sense, we live on the knife edge of faith and unbelief all the time. For this reason we need to hear the Gospel daily and weekly, and, by the presence of the Spirit and the Word, we maintain a life of faith and spiritual sight. We have an amazing God who loves us.