Jesus once met a man who had been born blind. In the presence of the man, “his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) Jesus said:
3 ...Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9)
The Lord made mud by spitting on the ground, and rubbed some on the eyes of the blind man. He said: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” (John 9:7)
The man born blind was given a reason, through what Jesus said, to believe that God had a purpose in his being born blind, and a reason for him to no longer be blind.
On the one hand, the man’s willingness to allow a total stranger to rub spit-mud in his eyes and his willingness to make the long walk to where Jesus told him to go demonstrated an immense open-mindedness. Spitting was considered an extremely crude act at that time, and the pool of Siloam lay far enough away that the instructed walk constituted a significant challenge for a blind man. On the other hand, perhaps he was just honest. He was blind and begging. What did he have to lose? Either way, in obeying Jesus, he was healed.
When those who had known him asked him how it happened, he was honest:
He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. (John 9:11)
He was not gushing with praise for Jesus. He merely said what he had reason to say.
Next, he was brought to the Pharisees, who he surely knew hated Jesus. In spite of this, he told them the same thing. They asked the man who he thought Jesus was, to which he replied, “a prophet.” (John 9:17) The Pharisees were not happy about that, and told the man that Jesus was a sinner. He replied with the reasons he had to believe otherwise—reasons the Pharisees had not managed to displace:
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25)
The Pharisees pushed him dishonestly, asking questions that feigned sincerity. The man directly and appropriately challenged them on their dishonesty:
26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?
27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.
29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. (John 9)
Instead of exercising honest reason and considering the objective weight of the man’s points, the Pharisees ignored everything he had said, appealed to a false understanding, and kicked him out of the synagogue:
They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. (John 9:34)
When Jesus heard that he had been cast out, he went to find him:
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9)
Jesus called attention to the fact that this man had honestly acted in accordance with the reasons he had been given to believe something other than what he previously believed.
From this example, we see that belief is much more logical than most assume. Faith is not some marvelous thing. Though it leads to marvelous outcomes, it does so step by step, through measured and justified reason. We are not condemned for lack of extraordinary belief, but for refusing to believe what is plainly manifest to us.