“He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son” (1 John 5:10, NKJV).
Consider all the ugly sins listed against Israel in the wilderness: complaining, idolatry, rebellion, sensuality and more. It’s a long list, yet none of these provoked God’s anger. It was their unbelief that angered God.
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will these people reject me? And how long will they not believe me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?’” (Numbers 14:11). God was saying, “These people make a lie out of everything I have done for them. When will they ever trust and rest in me?”
For thirty-eight long years Israel forgot God’s word and dismissed his miracles. Finally, because they kept falling back into murmuring and unbelief, God said, “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them” (Numbers 14:12). He told Moses, “I am giving up on my people because they won’t trust me.”
When Israel was on the victorious side of Jordan, Moses solemnly declared, “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it... Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you... Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God...And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers’” (Deuteronomy 1:21, 29-30, 32, 34-35).
Think about all the things God has done for you: He has kept you, answered prayers, met you in crises, brought you through trials, taken care of you in ways that are nothing short of miraculous. Nevertheless, we worry and fret because we don’t see him immediately do what we think he should do for us.
When God’s Word does not anchor our souls, when we hear wonderful promises then act as if we have been abandoned, we make God out to be a liar. When we live in unbelief, we rob ourselves of his blessings and favor.