The Gap Between Knowing and Believing - Nerdy Musings Week 2

Knowing is not always believing, and that's something I've been personally wrestling with somewhat lately. Let me explain.

Pause for a moment, and picture a scenario with me.

You’re on a guided hike through the Andes mountain range. The goal? Reach a remote collection of Incan ruins that your guide assures you come with a one-in-a-million view and far less traffic than the more popular destinations.

This guide came recommended by friends you trust, who themselves hiked this trail a couple of years ago. Their stories of the journey were mesmerizing. A beautiful hike, scenery straight out of a movie, and hosts at the mountaintop who provide shelter, an unforgettable traditional meal of their people, and hammocks from which you can see spirals of the Milky Way in a clear night sky.

At the moment, though, you’re not thinking about your final destination. You’re thinking about a rope bridge lying in front of you, spanning across a 20 yard chasm, that your guide is telling you has to be crossed to reach your final destination.

“Yea, my final destination.”

You have a different definition of that phrase in mind, as you stare down the depths of the chasm and question if it’s possible for you to turn back now.

“It’s safe, see?”

He begins to cross in front of you.

The guide reaches the other side and beckons you to cross now. The bridge looks secure enough. Nothing seemed to strain or stretch as he crossed.

Curious to confirm if your friends crossed this very bridge, you shout across the chasm, “Have you always used this route? Did your trail participants cross it in, say, 2024?”

“Yes, always, my friend! It’s very safe! Hundreds of crossings a year, and strength-tested regularly!”

You know your friends must have crossed this same bridge. You would say, factually, you “know” something with hundreds of crossings and safety certifications is safe. Intellectually, you “believe” him.

But do you really “believe?” If you believed, wouldn’t crossing this rope bridge be easy?

You know that you “know” this bridge is reliable, but you begin to realize that you don’t know if you “believe” it is.

Suddenly, you understand the father of Mark 9, who cried out to Jesus, “I do believe,” quickly follow by “help my unbelief!”

You know—you intellectually assent to—the reliability of this bridge. But do you believe it will hold?

Only your actions will reveal whether you just know, or if you truly believe. And sometimes we have to pray for God to grant us the belief we “know” we need to have, but struggle to find within ourselves.

The Difference Between Knowledge and Belief

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, in a personal capacity. I know the Christian life. I know Scripture. I know God’s commands.

And yet, I also know two things that I am aware I do not always believe (at least not to the extent of fully backing them with my actions or lived trust):

1. God’s ways are for my good and the good of others. Choosing an action, behavior, or path outside of God’s revealed commands is action taken to my own detriment and/or the detriment of others. I am better off following God’s ways in all things, consistently. Specifically, I’m better off proactively abiding in Him (John 15:9-11).

2. God is not holding out on me. He loves me, He wants what is best for me, and I can rest secure in His promises. God is good (Psalms 34:8), and he is for me (Romans 8:31-32).

The above mentioned verses:

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” - John 15:9-11

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.
How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!” - Psalms 34:8

“What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?” - Romans 8:31-32

The past year has been a bit turbulent for me personally. There have been some amazing things that have happened in my life and that of my family, while simultaneously there has been some meaningful uncertainty, and, to be honest, a difficulty in “feeling” God.

It’s been a season in which I’ve had to trust—had to believe—both his promises for me and also the reliability and value in living faithfully, especially in remaining consistent in personal exercise of my Christian faith and not just in the general religious practice of it.

But at times like this, I’m not going to lie, it is tough to set aside time for prayer. It’s tough to open up my Bible just to read it, rather than primarily opening it for specific reference points or in research. It’s tough to abide in Christ, even though that’s the whole point of this thing.

I know abiding in Christ is the source of all else.

I “believe” that Christ is the living water that will nourish and empower me for all else.

Yet, my flesh resists.

True belief—belief that would obviously bear corresponding actions as immediate fruit—that belief is elusive. At times, it can truly be challenging to find, even when I want it.

I know my faith must be more than wrote memorization, muscle memory, and sharing of truths I know intellectually, but does that knowledge lead me to real belief backed by real actions?

I Know God Exists, but Do I Believe Him?

My answer to the question of God’s existence is “Yes, he certainly exists,” but again, words merely reveal what we intellectually know.

Due to a supernatural encounter I had with God through a prophetic vision when I was 14 (and God’s successful prediction of unlikely future events within that vision), I don’t really have an option when it comes to believing in the reality of God’s existence. I’d be foolish to reject what He’s revealed plainly to me.

But belief He exists is different than belief in Him and in what He says.

I can tell you I believe Him, but it is the reality of my actions that reveals (even more to myself than to outside observers) whether that belief is truly held.

Do I cross the bridge? Or do I hold back in fearful apprehension?

Do I travel the fraught path to the destination of promise, or do I take the easy path to lesser destinations?

What we do reveals what we believe; not what we intellectually assent to be true, but what we really believe.

I believe in God, and I believe God, but in this life—as long as I live in this body of the Flesh—I will still always have to consciously reinforce that belief, as do you. Belief must be continually chosen, and followed by actions that match it.

This is What I’ve Been Thinking About

I have to choose to believe. I have to cross the bridge.

I have to choose to abide. I have to pursue personal encounter with Christ, not just adherence to or observance of Christianity.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about over the last week. In prayer on Thursday, I received a phrase, not quite audibly, but clearly not of my own mind.

“Believe me.”

I immediately knew what it was in reference to. Okay God, I hear you.

That word was rapidly followed up by “Taste and see,” which I recognized as a portion of Scripture. A quick Google search confirmed the source: Psalm 34, which I proceeded to read in its entirety.

It’s a great section of Scripture, and if you’ve similarly struggled with believing God, and not just “knowing” Christianity, I’d encourage you to read it right now.

Over the last week, whenever I’ve been tempted, whenever I’ve ignored an impulse to open my Bible, whenever I’ve chased distraction rather than active abiding, that word has persisted.

“Believe me.”

Maybe it’s a word you need to hear as well.

If so, join me in a prayer of response:

“I do believe; help my unbelief, Lord.”

Then go—taste and see.