The mind that is capable of deductive reasoning has one enemy, the emotions, a cold calculating individual bases their life upon factual evidence, not the feelings that interrupt that process.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) And “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
These need to be instilled as truth by the Holy Spirit of God, the factual evidence must be placed beside the emotional context, the unsees truth must be made visible, and only God can do that. It is why the answer that I give to many who ask me to prove the existence of the Lord to them is simply offered with this statement in one form of another, “I can’t, you ask Him.” Here is where the desire to know the truth will unfold before that individual, do they really want to know, or are they like Herod was, do they just want to see a magic trick. “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.” (Heb. 11:6)
It is the intent of the heart, the reason for that proof that only the Lord can see, and that is why Matthew 22:14 can stand unchallenged as truth, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” God does not think like we do, He has no need to prove Himself to anyone, yet He delights in those who by faith live their lives for Him. Those whom He freed from the house of bondage are proof of this statement, even after the miraculous signs, they refused to believe fully, even when the pillar of smoke and pillar of fire led them, they continued to want the Lord to show His care and provision for them. Tricks are never enough for the deductive individual, but emotion-based faith can be just as dangerous.
Deception is one of the tools of Satan, and he is willing to employ it to both of these character traits of mankind, he is an exceptionally talented magician.
The people in the Old Testament at times would make sure to take the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle, there was in a sense a religious cult that sprung up around the bronze snake on the pole that was made to keep one from dying when they were bitten by a snake. “Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” (Acts 19:19) Magic tricks are his specialty, so much so that it will seem as if the antichrist has been slain and then brought back to life. (Rev. 13:3) His efforts went so far as to contend for the body of Moses. (Jude 1:9)
Those who live by cold hard analytical facts will have no place to contend when these so-called miracles arrive during the Tribulation period, and those miracles that the Almighty will perform will leave them wondering. Here then is your question for the day, so to speak, if Romans 1:17 is indeed true to you, “The just shall live by faith,” are you still looking for magic tricks and miracles?
If your faith is based in the representation or the occurrences of something that can be experienced with one of your five senses, or is contingent upon an emotional experience, then your faith can easily be challenged. It does not imply that you are not saved, only that you are not living by a faith in Jesus Christ that needs no visible proof, a trusting, abiding faith that does not rest in the deductive analytical or the emotion-based part of us.
His truth has been reveled to you by His Word, and that truth has set you free from the need for any further proof. Magic tricks will not deceive you, and the miracles are expected, and seen as we walk each day with the Lord. That greatest of miracles is that you, that I, were chosen. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4) A transformed life should be all the proof you need, the cross should be all you need, the just shall live by faith, not sight.
