What Is Faith? …
It is not just credulity.
God is a reasonable God. He does not expect us to believe without any evidence. We today can see that God has acted in the past: we have absolute proof from prophecies amazingly fulfilled. Therefore Bible faith is faith for a reason. We can truly say, ‘God has done this, this and this; therefore I believe (have faith) that God will do this, this and this in the future’. Faith builds on reason.
The cases of both Abraham and David conform to this rough rule, as do all cases, when we think about them. Abraham had miraculous visitations from God, by vision or angels, on which to base his faith. David had the wonderful history of his nation (eg their miraculous deliverance from Egypt by the ten plagues) plus some of his own experiences (he was helped to oppose a lion and a bear to save his sheep) on which to build his faith, before his supreme act of faith in taking on Goliath!
Abraham’s faith is described by Paul in these words, and this is an exercise to us – Rom 4:18-20 – this is what real faith is like: “Who against hope believed in hope … and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”.
That is one reason why we need to show faith – it gives glory to God. Jesus did many miracles, which his disciples saw with their very own eyes! On one occasion Jesus criticised them, because they thought he was worried about not having enough bread to eat. He said to them, in effect, ‘You saw what I did in feeding the 5,000, so why are you now so faithless?’ (Matthew 16:6-11). When God gives us reasons, He expects faith. It is only reasonable!
Romans 10:17 tells us how we obtain faith: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Once we are convinced (by the many lines of evidence, including the resurrection of Christ from the dead on the third day) that the Bible is indeed the Word of God: and we read it with joy, then we develop stronger and stronger faith in God and His purposes with us and the earth.
Today we have the whole history of the Jewish race (their blessings, punishments, scattering and recent regathering) as reasons for our faith, plus many other lines of reasoning. So Hebrews 11:1 sums up for us (NIV): “FAITH is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see”. Hebrew 11 lists many of the great men and women who showed faith, some of whom died for their faith. Verse 35 tells us that their HOPE was in a future resurrection form the dead - “that they might gain a better resurrection”.
Life is a brief, fleeting affair. Total extinction is not a pleasant thought though most people seem to prefer it. Our only hope of being saved is to please God by having faith in Him, and letting our faith lead us to action and obedience. “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back into perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb 10:38,39).
Sorry we have mislaid the name of the African Contributor
