The Unseen Element of Faith

.... Faith is demonstrated very simply in the story of Abraham, whom God made the father of many nations:

.... ‘And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.’

(Genesis 15:4-6)

.... Faith plays a particular role when a part of our confidence depends on things that are unseen (Hebrews 11:1). In Abraham’s case, God promised him a child and an heir but it would be many years before this promise was fulfilled. In the meantime, on his end, Abraham kept believing God and trusted Him in the matter; and God, on His own end, kept assuring Him:

.... "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

(Hebrews 11:1 NAS)

.... Or in another application of faith, we could lift our eyes to heaven on a clear, starry night, as Abraham did so long ago. God created the entire universe but none of us were there when He did this, so we must accept His word over it (Job 38:21). Since a part of our understanding depends on things that were unseen to us all, we are again exercising our faith:

.... "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

(Hebrews 11:3)

.... But on God’s end it is all very different. He does not operate by 'faith' at all, since nothing is unseen to Him nor ever has been (Hebrew 4:13). In fact He sees the past, present and future alike (Isaiah 46:10; 57:15). Nor does He rely on some 'higher source' of power as we do when we are trusting in Him; but rather, He Himself is the ultimate source of power, the Almighty, and He does everything according to the counsel of His own will. (Isaiah 40:13-14; Ephesians 1:11; Revelation 4:11). This defines both His leadership role as the object of our faith, and our own subordinate role as we are looking to Him in trust, in following Him.

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.... So from God’s own perspective, when He makes a promise and sees that we are responding by trusting in Him, He will assure us of His steadfastness along the way – just as He assured Abraham periodically, until the promise was actually fulfilled (Genesis 17:16-19; 18:10-18). A dependent relationship is formed when we accept that He is all knowing, all powerful, absolutely faithful and in control, and that He is guiding our destiny as we entrust our future to Him (2 Corinthians 1:20):

.... "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

(Hebrews 11:6)

.... We will continue this perspective in our next posting.

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Daily Bible Reading: Romans 8