1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” Ezekiel 37:1-3 (NASB)
As Christians walk through their days that turn into weeks that turn into months that turn into years that turn into decades that turn into the length and breadth of their lives, they are continually put into circumstances where they must either believe and obey God or disbelieve and disobey Him….
Most believers I know have a horrible habit of limiting God by their lack of faith. Tragically, these decisions can result in walls of spiritual blindness to become erected in their hearts. With this spiritual blindness can come apathy or, worse, apostasy. Their decision to limit God with their lack of bold brokenness is based in idolatry. This idolatry consists of self-protection that, at least in the beginning, seems to alleviate the fear that comes from their timidity that keeps them from believing God and obeying Him. Timidity is a product of pride that masquerades as humility. The world sees a timid person and believes he or she is humble when, in fact, they are full of pride and will not take risks that could involve them to suffer from some perceived threat if they obey God.
The Christian who walks in unbelief is a spiritually blind person. They do not believe what God says. It does not help that he or she may not be well discipled. Most of those I have known, including myself for many years, who live this way believe that their salvation came at their own hands. They believe that they are Christians because they did the right thing at some point in their past and their spiritual growth is in their hands as well. When suffering comes into their lives they invariably run further from God and will not participate in their sanctification. Therefore, they remain mired in bondage to their flesh with walls of spiritual blindness separating themselves from God’s goodness and Grace. They are convinced that they will never change and their “Churchianity” is their way of getting right with God. When they encounter a believer who obviously lives for God in all parts of their life they think it is simply emotion and it will eventually wear off, after all, it did for them.