Faith: A Modern Mystery

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made by things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks (Hebrews 11:1-4).

Do you have faith in your Creator?

Faith is everything to the life of a believer. That is why we are called believers. We believe. We have faith in His goodness and mercy. By faith we have what he hoped for. By faith we know what we cannot see: that He exists and that He created the heavens and the earth. We obey by faith, not knowing, but believing that God is there, listening, caring, answering.

It is by faith that we obtain the testimony of our salvation—by His grace (Ephesians 2:8).

So what happens during times of struggle and suffering, the fiery tribulations of which God warned us?

During these times of crisis we often doubt. All our grand and noble aspirations, all our declarations of love and obedience and belief fly out the window, taken up instead by refrains of doubt. Doubt is the seed and work of the devil. Doubt should have no place in a believer’s life. It is the opposite of everything on which we base our faith. It is contrary to the gospel.

It is also a very human reaction.

That is to say, it is a work of the flesh. Throughout our lives God has blessed us with various gifts and knowledge and goods and times of peace and perhaps even prosperity. So when hard times come, we don’t understand why. We allow doubt to creep into our hearts, where it begins to slowly eat away at our faith. Suddenly we forget all that God has done for us, all the gifts and blessings and miracles that He performed again and again and again. We cry out: ‘Why, Lord! Why are you letting this happen?’

When He doesn’t answer on our timetable, we allow doubt to completely consume us. All our thoughts dwell on the ‘what ifs’. Our emotions and faith become mutated by doubt, until they are wholly given over to it, enslaved to uncertainty, to distrust, to disbelief.

Why does God allow these terrible things to happen? Why does He not immediately answer with goodness when we cry out to Him?

Since God’s ways are not our ways, this is a question we cannot fully answer (Isaiah 55:8).

Instead, we should be asking: ‘Help thou my unbelief!’

In Mark 9, a couple of Jesus’ apostles try to help a boy possessed by an unclean spirit. (Can you imagine how distraught the father of that boy must have been?) But the apostles could not cast it out (Verse 18). After lamenting the faithless generation, Jesus responds with this declaration: ‘If you can believe, all things are possible.’ The father of the boy cries out, ‘Lord I believe; help thou my unbelief!’

We, like the father in this story, are plagued by unbelief. But Jesus calmly assures us that all things are possible. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. If you believe that God created the universe, why should you find it hard to believe that He is in control of your situation?

Do not doubt that God knows what He is doing, and that what He is doing is right.

As for healing in your life, throughout the New Testament Jesus performed all many of miraculous healing. Nothing is too difficult for He. And how did Jesus respond to the doubting people before performing the healing? He lamented their unbelief, calling them faithless. When you doubt, you show that you have no faith.

Jesus is willing and able. He does not want anyone to perish without coming to know Him. And He is always ready to answer the prayers of the faithful. The fervent faithful prayers of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). Scripture is bursting at the seams with hopeful and inspiring and faith-lifting passages. Read James. Study Mark. Absorb Hebrews 11. All the great men and women of the bible believed and suffered bouts of doubt.

In the end they all came to know: God saves. God still saves. God cares for you and yours. He is waiting for you to trust Him with everything, as everything is His; we are merely entrusted with the blessings.

You are not a sinner if you doubt. But by His grace you are righteous if you believe!

It is in His hands. He can do all things. You need to believe this. What are you waiting for? He has been blessing you your entire life, and now you’re going to doubt His goodness? Just ask yourself this one question: Do I trust that God knows what He is doing?

DO I TRUST THAT GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING?

If you can find your way to YES, I BELIEVE, then all worry and doubt and fear will begin to melt away, replaced by living faith in the Almighty. Savior. Redeemer. Doubt is worthless. Faith moves mountains. ‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’ (1 John 5:14). It is a wonderful thing, to place your trust in the hands of the living God, knowing that He cares for you.

Seek comfort in Psalm 17:7. Also, study Matthew 6:31-33. You will find there everything you need to face your circumstances and trials like a true believer.