Mark 6:4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country" ........ 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief" ....
This passage of scripture shows us how a spirit of unbelief produces a negative effect on potential miracles which The Lord would otherwise have performed for those who were in need. It is very important for us to dwell on the positive aspects of life, by harboring and cultivating a disposition to believe in God. When we allow our minds to wander in a maze of unbelief and pessimism, by thinking about all the negatives that could occur in a particular situation, we thereby surround ourselves with a spirit of doubt, which becomes more and more impenetrable with every refusal of positive evidences from The Lord.
In the case of the Jews, they allowed their minds to brood on Christ's mysterious birth, and His claim to be the Messiah, since he had brothers and sisters living in the same neighborhood, and they were also offended that he did not attend the prestigious centers of learning and education which, as they thought, would give Him the necessary credentials and authority to speak and act as He did. All of these factors were permitted to overshadow the bare facts that He actually healed some of the people they knew, and although the positive, undeniable evidences were before them, they still chose not to believe, since Christ did not meet their finite criteria. Let's read:
Mark 6:2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
As a direct result of harboring this attitude, Jesus was literally prevented from performing many mighty miracles in that place, and He had to move on to another venue, for faith and belief are indispensable essentials to the manifestation of the miracle-working power of God. Let's read:
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The scripture does not say that he that comes to God "Should" believe, it says "Must", which means that if our attitude is that we will evaluate and experiment and prove in a scientific manner, what God has plainly stated or commanded, then it is not possible to have any real relationship with God, because our interaction with our Creator is based on the sacred truth that God knows and can do anything, whereas we do not know and cannot do everything. That's why the next verse in the same book of Hebrews gives us an example of the living faith which must be cultivated, if we are to enjoy fellowship with God. Let's read:
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
When God told Noah to build the Ark, rain had never yet fallen on the earth, so Noah had no idea what clouds, thunder, and precipitation looked or felt like. As a matter of fact, in Noah's mind it was not necessary for the scientists of his day to confirm or prove that any such thing existed or could take place, for if God says it, we should believe it, even though we may have no clue what He is talking about.
In our day an irreverent spirit of unbelief has taken hold of the multitudes, and we have now come to an era when we must prove something in scientific laboratories before we believe. Hence the reason why we are sending missions to various planets to find out the origins of the earth, when God has already told us in Genesis that He spake and it was done. We must therefore cultivate a ready mind that is quick to acknowledge and respond to even the slightest evidences of the genuine power of God, and if we do, we will find that Christ will do abundantly more than we can ask or think, in any perplexing situation we may find ourselves.
We therefore end with a promise that encourages us to exercise faith in The Living God at all times and in all places, for God takes delight in showing Himself strong in behalf of those who put their trust in Him. Let's read:
Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them" ..... "verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
May God add His blessing to the study and doing of His word. "Good night" and God bless!