FAITH
A small boy riding a bus home from Sunday school was very proud of the card he had
received, which had a picture and a caption that read: “Have Faith in God.” Then to his
dismay the card slipped from his hand and fluttered out the window. “Stop the bus!” he
cried. “I’ve lost my ‘faith in God!’”
The driver pulled the bus to a stop, and as the lad climbed out and went to retrieve his
card, one of the adult riders smiled and made a comment about the innocence of youth. A
more perceptive adult observed, “All of us would be better off if we were that concerned
about our faith.
We’d better stop here and examine the word and the concept of faith. In Hebrew, faith means to
question or hesitate. Certainly this is not the faith of Abraham. While he did have questions and at
times wondered when the God’s promise would happen, I don’t think he hesitated in his faith in
God. Certainly he didn’t hesitate when God called him out of Ur, the land of his father, to found a
new nation. Scripture records that Abram, as he was known then, picked up everything he had,
sheep, cattle, tents, a nephew, and his wife Sari, and began a trek to a land unknown to him. What
a great act of the word we are defining -- faith -- this was.
Let’s look at “faith” as Paul uses it in the Greek language. In Greek, faith means a conviction in
the truthfulness of God. This is the kind of faith Paul’s Abraham had. A conviction in the
truthfulness of God. This faith - this conviction - is what God recognized when he, “credited his
faith to him as righteousness.”
Everyone has faith in something. Even a lack of faith is a kind of faith. Some people have “little
faith,” and we feel sorry for them. Some folks have “a desperate faith,” and we pray for them.
Some people have a “different faith,” and we fear them. Some people have “strong faith,” and we
admire them. Perhaps one of the best attempts to define faith, what it is and who has it, comes
from The Communicator’s Commentary, written by Dr. Stuart Briscoe. He writes, “The object of
faith is what really matters, more than anything else. Some people who had strong faith in thin ice
never lived to tell the tale but died by faith. Others who had weak faith in thick ice were as safe as
if they stood on concrete. The object of faith is what really matters, more than anything else.”
Who is the object of our faith? It is God. The God who created the heavens and the earth.
You see, it is important that we understand in whom we believe, in whom we place our trust.
Blind faith can get us killed. Thin ice is thin ice. Trusting in thin ice is never a good idea. Trusting
in God is always a good idea.
If you take the time to study what the Bible says about faith, you will come to the undeniable
conclusion that faith must have a solid foundation. It must be built upon that foundation. Faith
must have a cornerstone upon which to build. We are not called to have faith in faith itself. Faith
in faith is not faith . The only true foundation for faith is God.
Then we might ask, “Why have faith?” Why did Abraham have faith - faith in God? Maybe it was
because of God’s promise in Gen. 12:2-3. (read)
Faith isn’t something we turn on and off, like a switch. Faith is a lifestyle. Faith is something we
live each day. We live in a society of skeptics and cynics. Often people will respond to a promised
possibility by saying, "I don’t believe it!" They call that reality, but it is really a form of skepticism
learned by negative experiences.
Unfortunately we’ve all had negative experiences and these negative experiences have conditioned
us to look at things as skeptics. Because we have been disappointed so many times, we are
tempted to believe in nothing or no one. When promised something we often respond by saying,
"I’ll believe it when I see it!" The problem is, even when we do see it we often don’t believe it.
Even knowing that God is the only sure foundation for our faith does not automatically mean that
we will have faith. There are always barriers to faith. Abraham faced these barriers to faith. One
barrier we all face is circumstances. We look at our lives and wonder how anything can be done in
our situation. That’s exactly what Abraham did.
God had made a promise to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. But
Abraham was old and so was his wife. He was a hundred years old when God reaffirmed His
promise to him. Sarah was ninety. How could any person have a child that late in life?
Faith, or trusting in God, accomplishes a number of important things for the Christian. There are
several benefits of faith for us.
Scripture says that Abraham was strengthened in his faith. The first benefit of faith is that faith
builds us up or strengthens us. It grows us toward maturity. Exercise faith and it grows.
Scripture also says that Abraham gave glory to God. Another benefit is that faith exalts God. It
glorifies His greatness. By trusting in God you are visibly expressing your confidence in Him.
Scripture also says that Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had
promised. Faith establishes us. It gives us a foundation.
And finally, faith enables us. It gives us possession of the promise. Scripture says this is why
Abraham received the righteousness of God credited to him.
It is like the following: In a desert stands a water pump in the sand. You are a lone traveler, your
canteen is empty, you’re thirsty, and you come upon that pump. Tied to it is a hand written sign.
The sign reads "I have buried a bottle of water to prime the pump. don’t drink any of it.
Pour in half of it to wet the leather. Wait, and then pour in the rest. Then pump. The well has
never gone dry, but the pump must be primed to bring the water up. Have faith, believe. When
you are through drawing water, fill the bottle and bury it in the sand for the next traveler." Having
come upon this pump in the desert with this sign and being out of water, what would you do???
Will you dig the water bottle from the sand and drink from it?? Or will you believe and in
believing dare to pour that water every drop of it down into the old trusty pump?? Because you
trust, you take a risk, both for yourself and for the next person who will pass that way. What will
you do???
Will you be faithful in the written promises of God? God has promised through Christ to care for
us, to redeem us, to provide for us in His unique way. And yet you and I want to rely on
ourselves as Abraham and Sarah did. Sarah had a slave girl bear a child just in case God didn’t
provide, but God continues to promise Abraham that he will have a son and will be “the father of
many nations”. God will provide in His way, not in the way Abraham and Sarah tried. Faithfulness
calls us to rely on God’s promises for our lives not ours.
If you have faith somewhere along the line you heard God speak. For most of us it’s not an
audible trumpet blast from on high. Maybe you heard God speak through a friend who loved you
enough to share their faith in Christ. Maybe you heard God speak through a teacher or preacher.
Maybe you heard God speak to you through reading the Bible. A friend of mine said he heard
God speak to him while he was taking a shower. Whatever works. God speaks to us in whatever
way our minds will absorb His words and believe. Faith begins in the mind.
When Abraham believed, he did not simply believe in the promise that God had given to him.
Abraham’s basis for faith was God, in whom he believed. Abraham believed in God Himself.
God must be the clear object of our faith. He must be the foundation for our faith. He must be the
basis for our faith. Our faith rests upon the reliability of God, not upon the changing feelings of
the human heart.
We put our faith in God’s Word because of God. Faith in God’s Word is faith in God, who stands
behind His Word. Human words are unreliable, because humans are unreliable. God’s Word, on
the other hand, is reliable because God stands behind it. It is His Word. It has authority because
He is the ultimate authority in the Universe. Therefore, when we choose to believe God’s Word,
we are choosing to believe in the God who stands behind His Word. This is what Abraham did.
And this is what we should do. That is faith.
