Mark Day 46
Read: Mark 16:1-20
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
Mark 16:14
Sometimes we need God to rebuke our unbelief because it’s inhibiting us from our inheritance. Sometimes there is the belief in our hearts but unbelief in our heads. The two can and do co-exist. Just letting unbelief live in our heads will make our hearts hard. That hardened heart won’t let faith out and certainly won’t let faith change the mind. The disciples had believed Jesus but couldn’t believe in the resurrection that Jesus had promised. Besides, people don’t rise from the dead and anyone who has been dead for three days is done. It’s over! Isn’t that what would go through our minds if we were them? And now fear had set in and maybe regret for believing in the unbelievable. Belief and unbelief can co-exist. It had happened on the mountain in Matthew 17 when the disciples could not cast out the demon in the boy. And here it was again. For faith to work the heart must help the head focus on the word of God, not the words from the past or from people. Sometimes the only way to make that change is to receive the rebuke of God. Don’t make a request and then find a reason for not getting it. Rebuke and renounce the unbelief and respond in belief. Don’t let unbelief negate your belief.
From the Kitchen Table 