The Process Of Faith

The Process of Faith

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1

ABRAHAM SPENT DECADES WAITING for the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son. In the meantime, he speculated about alternative heirs (Genesis 15:2-3); wondered whether God meant for him to have a son through a servant rather than his wife—and then acted on that thought (Genesis 16); and laughed at the possibility of the promise being literally fulfilled (Genesis 17:17). He never actually gave up faith, and Paul generously wrote much later that Abraham never wavered in it (Romans 4:20). All the while, Abraham was going through a process all people of faith must go through: He was being weaned from the visible and forced to fix his eyes on what is unseen. He was learning to see the spiritual reality behind the scenes.

Abraham may seem like an extraordinary example—he had an extraordinary calling, after all—but learning the dynamics of faith is a normal journey for citizens of God’s Kingdom. We are never told to invent another realm and fix our eyes on it; we are given specific promises that force us into a choice. Will we look around to see if a promise is real or look to the God who is faithful to believe it’s real? Will we stake our faith on visible circumstances or on what God has said? Do we have the courage to exercise naked faith—the kind that has absolutely nothing to go on except a word from God? Much of our journey between promise and fulfillment tests our answers to those questions. It’s one thing to say we have faith, but it’s another to cling to our faith when it is tested, stretched, pulled, pushed, and stripped of all external support. The process can either purify our faith or kill it.

That’s God’s design, and we need to embrace it. Abraham was right to ask God questions and consider whether he had actually heard him correctly. But once the affirmation came, he had to decide: Would he believe God or believe his circumstances? He chose the former, and a nation of faith was born. As people of faith, we follow in those footsteps. Based only on a promise, we choose to believe what we cannot see until belief sees its reward.

Real trust in God is above circumstances and appearances.