These trying times beckon the prayers of faithful men and women everywhere. Great faith in God is needed to help direct and guide our leaders.
When we think of people of great faith, names like Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah, Job, and Daniel come to mind. These men demonstrated tremendous trust and dependence on the unseen during trying times. Their confidence in God and His promises developed within them great character which inspired others and led nations to achieve great success.
Faith is Our Foundation
From the beginning of time God asked mankind to believe in Him. Our understanding of faith is so important, that it is mentioned over 300 times in Scripture. There is nothing more essential to Christians than faith.
Faith is Believing
Believing in the object of our trust – God Almighty. Ed Hindson introduces a number of intriguing concepts about faith in his book, “Men of the Promise”. In the first chapter Ed suggests the following: “The power of our faith rests in the object of our faith. At the foundation of all love is a belief in the object that is loved. If I do not believe in a person, I cannot love him. The same is true in our relationship with God. Without faith it is impossible for us to know Him and love Him. Faith is the starting point in our spiritual journey. We must begin with God: believing that He exists, believing that He cares, and believing that His love is real.”
When you think about it, we have faith in a lot of things. We have faith that the sun will come up in the morning, that after the long winter, spring will come, faith in the miracle of birth. Why not faith in the God who created it all?
The Rock of our Salvation
The Apostle Paul suggests, “We live by faith, not by sight.” – II Corinthians 5:7 I keep a little journal in the front part of my Bible to remind me of God’s faithfulness. It is easy to forget how faithful God has been unless we regularly review His past accomplishments. My journal helps me to trust and obey His commands and promises in the future. In a similar fashion the Book of Hebrews lays out for all generations to see, the faithfulness of God. This section of Scripture helps us understand how God has been so very faithful in meeting the needs of His people.
Eugene Peterson has developed a unique modern day paraphrase of the New Testament in his work “The Message”. I encourage you to re-read the wonderful story of faith from the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.
Our challenge is to keep the faith during those trying times. Even when the “feeling” isn’t there immerse yourself in God’s comforting words. The Psalms are one of my favorite places in God’s Word to find solace for my soul.