We know our faith should be in God; to believe Him regardless, to trust Him totally in all things and at all times. However, we don’t always feel like we have faith. At times we struggle with doubting God, with believing He will do all He says He will do, with believing the Scriptures when they do not conform to what we expect should happen. We want to see tangible evidence of things; we desire to see proof, to know without doubt, to be given visible and viable confirmation that the Lord’s promises to us will actually happen. However, this is not faith. Faith is not having the proofs we desire, but believing the truths stated in the Bible. The author of Hebrews said: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11.1). Having faith, we accept what has been assured to us in Scripture without the physical evidence we desire, without specific confirmation which is natural in our world.
Faith is the “assurance of things hoped for.” This is having absolute confidence in what has been written in Scripture, what has been revealed regarding our eternal redemption and the future, the Lord’s continual and faithful care, His promises, and His attributes are absolutely and unquestionably true. We have this assurance, not because we have visible evidence before us, but because we choose to believe based on the authority of God’s Word. Faith is the “conviction of things not seen.” This is being fully persuaded regarding the truth of what has been revealed in Scripture; the strong belief that what has been told us about the events of the past – creation, the fall of Adam in the Garden, the devastation caused by the world-wide flood, the events of history, the words of the prophets, the testimony of Jesus Christ and His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and revealed future events are all absolutely and unequivocally true. In faith, we choose to fully and completely trust God and His Word.
Believing God and His Word – we have much to be thankful for –
Terry Burlingame
My Morning Desk 