Unseen

November 3

Ezekiel 9-11

Psalm 119:89-96

Proverbs 26:17

Hebrews 11:1-16

Unseen

“Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” 

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century pastor and theologian said, “To trust God in the light is nothing, but trust Him in the dark—that is faith.”¹⁹ Oswald Chambers said, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”¹⁹ Corrie Ten Boom described faith as “the radar that sees through the fog—the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.”¹⁹ The assurance of what we do not see is not the assurance that something we want is going to happen.  We do not place our faith in an event.   Faith is not believing something is going to happen the way we want it to happen.   We do not place our faith in the hope of good fortune and blessings.  We place our faith in God.  Our faith is based on the character and love of our Heavenly Father.  Faith is placing our life in His hands because we believe that He will accomplish what is best for us.  If we place our faith in a certain thing happening, we will likely be disappointed.  Faith is trusting Him with the when, how, where and what. 

Max Lucado said about faith, “Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want.  Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.”¹⁹ Faith is knowing the character of God and trusting His absolute, undeniable ability and willingness to do what is best for us in every situation.   We cannot firmly believe that a future event will happen unless it is specifically promised in the Bible.  We know that if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we will go to Heaven and spend eternity with Him.  We know that someday He will return and judge the living and the dead.  Those things are specifically promised, and we can rely on them happening.  We cannot have faith that we will get a certain job or that we will be healed of an illness or that tomorrow will be a perfect day.  If we place our faith in those things, they may or may not happen.  But if we place our faith in God, we can be assured that He will bring about His plan for us.  We will get the job that He knows is best for us.  We will be healed either here in this body or in Heaven with a restored body.  Tomorrow may not be perfect, but we can be assured that He will walk through it with us no matter what we face.  Elizabeth Eliot said, “Faith does not eliminate questions, but faith knows where to take them.”20 We may not understand everything that happens to us, but we are able to remain firm and steadfast because our faith is in His love and His sovereignty.  The Old Testament saints that are listed in Hebrews 11 did not have all the evidence we have in His Word.  They did not have the benefit of seeing the big picture and the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption, but they trusted in God.  We cannot see God, but we have an abundance of evidence of His faithfulness in our lives and in the lives of generations of believers that justifies our complete faith in Him.