Why is it hard to believe in God today? It is hard, because belief in the biblical God goes radically against the whole drift of our culture, against the whole cultural consensus, against human autonomy. For those who uphold their own autonomy, belief in the Christian God is not only difficult, it's impossible.
And if you believe in God, but are somewhat swayed by our cultural consensus, you will find belief in God a very difficult thing. You will be torn back and forth, tempted to abandon what belief you can muster.
Well, how can we believe in something which so many think is impossible? First, I want you to know that God is very much aware of the situation. Indeed, it comes right out of the Bible. Listen to what God says, in 1 Corinthians. 1:18-25:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
You see, there's nothing new about the modern or postmodern cultural consensus. The apostle Paul had to preach into the same kind of intellectual environment 2000 years ago. These people also believed in their own autonomy. And they too believed they had no need of salvation from sin.
If you start from human autonomy, you can't believe in God. If you look for some logical argument that runs from the assumption of human autonomy to the conclusion, "God exists," you won't find one. When you start from that premise, you will conclude over and over again that God does not exist. The only way to believe in God is by means of a whole new way of thinking, a new mind, the mind of Christ. ⛪
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom and let not the mighty man glory in his might;
let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this,
that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord..." (Jeremiah 9:23~24, NKJV)