“The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.” Hebrews 11:1-2c (MSG)
It is easy to trust God when you can identify options you think God will use to answer your prayers. It is far more difficult when there does not appear to be any conceivable option on which to anchor your faith.
These are the times when needed solutions appear to be non-existent, and you simply have to trust that God is real, that He exists, and that He sees you, knows you, cares about your struggles and issues, and has the resources to provide the solution you cannot fathom.
When you find yourself in such a situation, your first course is foundational:
“ …anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.…” Hebrews 11: 6b (NIV)
Perhaps you have not seriously considered the meaning of this verse of scripture because it may appear to be unnecessary, superfluous. You may reason that one must believe in the existence of God to come to Him in the first place!
But is that presumption your experience?
Do you really believe that God exists, and that He is interested in your wellbeing whatever that represents at any particular time? If you do, then act on the truth of God’s word which may be, to walk, speak, act, or simply to wait for Him to act.
Hebrews 11 records men and women who believed in the existence of God and His ability to influence their lives, to provide for their needs, and to lead them into their destinies.
The stories of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab and many more, have a single thread: They showed their belief in God, and their trust in His faithfulness and goodness by their actions. They trusted Him with their needs and their very lives and destinies, and went out on a limb to obey God, carrying out His instructions and directives which for us, in hindsight, appear to be the well-advised course to take, but which at the material times, may have appeared foolhardy to any observer.
Acting in Faith
Noah built an ark in expectation of a deluge. By that act, he worked with God to preserve man and beast on the earth.
Abraham left his family and all that was near and dear to him to go on a journey without a known destination, just a promise that God (who is unseen) would show him where he would settle. He believed that God would make him great, a father of many nations, and that through him all the world would be blessed. God rewarded his faith by giving him descendants, one of whom is Jesus Christ, through whom God extended salvation to mankind.
Sarah believed she would have a child in her old age, and embraced all that it meant for her – bearing a child at ninety years, and becoming a new mother at the age of ninety-one, were no easy tasks. By her obedience, she worked alongside her husband in God’s plan of salvation.
Jacob believed in the promise of God made to Abraham and to him, and blessed his twelve children with that destiny in mind. By that act, he worked with God to ensure the continuation of Abraham’s blessing.
Joseph would not take the easy road out of the bitterness of slavery by succumbing to the designs of Potiphar’s wife. Having endured the harsh life of a slave and a prisoner, he refused to pay his brothers back for the wrong they had done him when he had the right and opportunity to do so. Believing God’s promise of an inheritance of land in Canaan, he gave instructions regarding their exodus from Egypt and his desire to be buried in the promised land. By that act, He prepared many generations after him for God’s deliverance.
Rahab saved the Israelite persons sent by Joshua to spy on Jericho in order to formulate a plan for war. What she did for them could have resulted in some form of punishment or even death at the hands of her own people. She did so because, from her own account, she believed in the power of the God of Israel and His commitment to them. By her action, the spies were saved, ensuring the conquest of Jericho, and the entry into God’s promised land.
The actions of all these persons were anchored on their firm belief in the existence of God, and His love and commitment to do good to those who revere and obey Him.
Waiting in Faith
Sometimes; however, God’s instruction (or directive) is not for any action on one’s part: it is simply to wait for Him to show up; to lead the way, to empower, or to achieve something for one.
That is hard.
Waiting for God to act on one’s behalf is hard because being used to working for what we desire, inaction appears to be a sign of laziness, lack of vision, or planning. But in Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) assures us that: “…those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…”
That scripture also promises that waiting on the Lord shall provide not only strength, but the drive to achieve, the passion and resources to commence what must be done, and the staying power to go the long haul: “They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint”
David waited for about 15 years after Samuel anointed him, before he ascended to the throne of Judah, and six more years before he became king of all Israel. The wait was worth it, for it transformed a shepherd boy into a warrior king, fit for the task [of delivering his people] that King Saul before him had failed to accomplish.
Waiting for the Lord equips us for God’s assigned tasks, and for life.
In Acts 1, Jesus told His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father – the Holy Spirit – before they commenced the work of witnessing that He had commissioned them to undertake.
The disciples waited, and the Holy Spirit released power which transformed them into bold witnesses who launched the Church.
Confidence: The Basis of Faith
Whether God asks you to do what does not make sense or is difficult in the moment, or simply to wait for Him, what will enable your obedience is the certain and confident belief that He is God: the Creator of all that exists; the Sustainer of all He has created, and the One who has Himself invited you into His embrace as His child because of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Saviour.
The great men and women we read about in the Bible, and honour as giants of the faith, were persons of faith: they were faithful in obedience in the little things, and in the big things. Their faith was anchored solely on their confidence in the existence of God, His power, and His goodness. They were confident of ‘things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen’ (Hebrews 11:1).
For the faith this confidence produced, God gave them a report card, commending them, applauding them, not because they were excellent in themselves, but because by their faith, they showed that God could work in, with, and through them.
Will you anchor your faith on who God is, His faithfulness and His goodness?
The ancient men and women we read about – ordinary men and women who had cause to doubt God’s promises – told the story of God’s faithfulness by their lives of obedience in faith, in their generations.
They have given to us, examples to learn from, and to emulate.
May we also continue to tell the story of God’s faithfulness by our obedience in faith
And may we by our obedience, receive God’s report card, that our lives and deeds are worthy of emulation.
