Believing the 'Unvisualizable'
Believing certain truths can be difficult due to the inability to visualize them, which is a psychological, not spiritual, issue.
A.W. Tozer addresses the challenge of unbelief, emphasizing that our struggle often stems from an inability to visualize certain spiritual truths rather than a lack of faith. He points out that while we easily believe in historical biblical events due to their external nature, concepts like regeneration and divine indwelling are harder to grasp because they are internal and abstract. Tozer encourages believers to recognize this psychological barrier and not to blame themselves for their struggles with faith. He asserts that understanding this distinction can help alleviate the guilt associated with unbelief.
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Unbelief is so prevalent that I do not wish to say anything that might be interpreted as excusing it, but for all our being so slow to believe I still think that sometimes we blame ourselves for unbelief when our trouble is nothing more than inability to visualize. There are some truths set forth in the Scriptures that place a great strain upon our minds. Divine revelation assures us that certain things are true which imagination will simply not grasp. We believe them but we cannot see them in the mind's eye. It may be pointed out here that the ease with which we grasp a truth is sure to be in exact proportion to its externality as distinguished from its internality.
Biblical history, for instance, because it is all objective and external, is no problem to belief.
We are sure we believe whatever is written about Moses or David or Peter because we have no trouble "seeing" it taking place, while such truths as regeneration or the divine indwelling cannot be visualized and so are more difficult for us to handle. This we should recognize as psychological, not spiritual, and stop chiding ourselves for something we have not done.
Sermon Outline
- The Problem of Unbelief
- The Nature of Biblical Truth
- A Psychological, Not Spiritual, Issue
- We should not chide ourselves for unbelief due to visualization issues
- This is a psychological, not spiritual, problem
Key Quotes
“Unbelief is so prevalent that I do not wish to say anything that might be interpreted as excusing it, but for all our being so slow to believe I still think that sometimes we blame ourselves for unbelief when our trouble is nothing more than inability to visualize.” — A.W. Tozer
“Divine revelation assures us that certain things are true which imagination will simply not grasp.” — A.W. Tozer
“We believe them but we cannot see them in the mind's eye.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- Recognize that visualization issues are not a spiritual failing, but rather a psychological challenge.
- Seek to understand the nature of internal truths, such as regeneration, and how they differ from objective truths like biblical history.
- Pray for the ability to grasp and believe in these internal truths, even if they cannot be visualized.