Fear, Hope, and the Unbeliever

Scripture Reading

Psalm 14: 5-6

5 But the wicked are filled with terror, because God is with those who do what is right. 6 The wicked upset the plans of the poor, but the Lord will protect them.

Devotional

If you’ve been a believer for some time, you may have had friends, family, or strangers attack you for your beliefs. Personally, I’ve had friends, acquaintances, and strangers outright ridicule me for believing in God because they simply couldn’t understand the concept of faith. They believed that faith was for the “weak-minded.” Sometimes these attacks would come out of nowhere. And it used to really bother me as to what triggered such hateful speech especially when unprovoked. Like who has the energy to just go around attacking people for their beliefs that don’t impact them at all? Why not just continue peacefully in atheism and denial of God? Well, Psalm 14:5-6 lends us some insight into why this is.

Verse 5 says that “the wicked are filled with terror, because God is with those who do what is right.” Isn’t that interesting? The unbelievers speak and do evil against believers out of fear. Why is this? Because deep down there is a seed of doubt that they cannot reconcile when they see people who acknowledge God in all life situations and they cannot rationalize why someone would have such strong hope unless there was something to this God they serve. But confronting that doubt is hard and instead of just asking out of curiosity, they double down on the fact they must be right that Jesus is not God and that our contentment and hope is completely misplaced. In fact, atheists apparently are so convinced that they’re right that they just can’t let it go. I once heard Neil deGrasse Tyson admit he didn’t know if there was a God or not, but that he didn’t understand the point in sitting around and talking about how much they don’t believe in God. When I heard him say that it made me think about all the times that atheists have really attacked Christianity and faith in general and that kind of behavior is not only evil, but it’s irrational. I don’t believe in the tooth fairy, but I wouldn’t start a society and talk for hours on end about how much the tooth fairy doesn’t exist with other people who also don’t believe in the tooth fairy. I’d just shrug it off and move on with my life.

See, the unbeliever has nothing to hope for. The unbeliever thinks that our short time on Earth is all we have and there’s simply nothing after death, so they want to live it any way they see fit and it’s completely unfulfilling. They do what whatever makes them happy, whatever gets them ahead, oppress and attack others, whatever distracts them from that seed of doubt that whispers “but what if there is more to life than this?” Each believer is just a constant reminder to them of that nagging question.

Verse 6 goes on to say that “the wicked upset the plans of the poor, but the Lord will protect them.” That is to say that if someone is holding us back, upsetting our plans to prosper especially because of our faith, our God will protect us and we can count on that. Our God has plans to grow and prosper us. Psalm 23:5 says:

5 You prepare a meal for me in front of my enemies. You pour oil of blessing on my head; you fill my cup to overflowing.

Today, you may be seemingly under the thumb on the enemy and they may be trying to starve you out, but God is saying “don’t worry, I’m cooking you up a hot meal.” When times are hard, we know God is already working on our behalf and making our enemies look like fools. The poor will be fed, blessed, and their cup will be overflowing. That means that God’s blessings will be so great for you that they cannot be contained and it will be more than whatever you may have envisioned. That’s the kind of God we serve.

Lastly, but certainly not least, this life here on Earth is just a drop in the bucket of time. As believers, we see value in living our lives for God here on Earth, but we know our real reward and eternal life is at home in Heaven in the presence of the Lord. That thought is a comfort. The unbeliever sees their death as permanent end. That differing mindset on what our lifespan is ought to drive how we approach our day-to-day lives because no matter things look like today, we know we have good things ahead of us.

If you’re struggling with your faith, find yourself fearful of whether you’ll make it into Heaven, or want to pray for someone who is an unbeliever, let’s pray together.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for the reminder that you are always looking out for us. No matter what the enemy may try to do to us, you promise to come through and protect us and bless us. Today Lord, I want to pray for myself and/or someone close to me who is an unbeliever or is struggling in faith. I pray that the wisdom of your Word is planted and destroys the weeds of fear and doubt. Just like how on the other side of death is life, so is comfort on the other side of fear. Help me to remember the God you are and to help me get to know you better each day as I walk in faith. In Jesus name, Amen.