Will seeing help you believe? Doubtful

I've heard plenty of times when people say that if only God would show them some kind of sign then it would be easy to believe in him. I understand the sentiment, but I'm not quite sure what they're getting at. Do you want something small like providing lunch for you by way of a coworker or something in the bizarre like help someone who is crippled or ill Benny Hinn style on a stage? I will tell you, that really won't help either way you want it.

I think the disciples were expecting an explanation like this

Many people saw Jesus do great things like heal lepers and quadriplegics as well as being a divinely awesome cook and making a meal for over 3000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish. However, there were still skeptics. Even his disciples weren't satisfied with his examples! I was astounded when I first read the passage that said this. In Mark chapter 6 we see Jesus doing many miracles, notably throwing an amazing outdoor picnic for a couple thousand people. Fish and bread. Lovely sounding lunch if you ask me. And then we also see Jesus walk on water. And no not ice, but water. And his twelve disciples saw all of it unfold right before their very eyes. In all honesty, these are two things that you cannot fake or feign like a card trick. Feeding even a hundred people is a crazy task. And yet his disciples were still not satisfied...kinda weird to me. In Mark 6:51,52 it says "And they were utterly astounded ,for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened."

Honestly, and I may be going out on a limb, but most people would not expect them to have their hearts hardened after seeing miraculous things happen right in front of their eyes. For many skeptics this would seem to be grand in the evidence department. But the men who spent their whole lives with Jesus were hardened because they couldn't understand a miracle. And honestly, I would be surprised if anyone else would not be having the same response. Even if we see the result of something, we don't want to believe it's true until we know it is completely true through our own trial and error. 

I'll give you an example from my own life. In junior high and high school I went on a lot of church retreats, with many of them being in the mountains. So of course many times rappelling was the "fun" (I use that term loosely) activity of the day. I was never keen on heights so I was already sketchy on it. But add in the fact that the guy who was watching me was always, without fail, some tiny dude who obviously lived off of only granola and the occasional breakfast burrito with the help of a tiny rope smaller than your little sister's jump rope supporting me, I was even more scared. Add in the fact that I've always been large and hence, I didn't want anything to do with climbing backwards down a wooden tower.

Now, I had seen plenty of people do it. I saw the stick guy support them quite well. And yet somehow I couldn't bring myself to trust them and go rappelling (you guessed it, I never have). The same can be said for faith in Christ. We can always see people putting their faith in it and see miraculous things happen, and yet it can still be impossible to believe. The disciples (who started the whole church!) couldn't believe even though they had tons of proof! But much like the people who trusted granola man with their life on a giant tower, we must too put faith in a loving God, and know that our lives are in very capable hands (God's being MUCH more capable).