Teachings

What is Faith?

When one discusses the Patriarch Abraham the discussion usually gravitates to his faith. To heed the call of a God he vaguely may have heard of and then uproot his family to go to an unfamiliar land took formidable courage and trust. In fact faith is trust. The root Hebrew word for faith is trust or assurance; however one of the difficulties in discussing faith as it is defined by some in the Twenty-first Century Church in America is the perception of the word. Faith is defined by many Christians today as a power that is energized by what we say based on Mark 11:23, but this interpretation is the result of an oversight in failing to compare Scripture to Scripture before creating a doctrine. Mark 11:23 compared with Lamentations 3:37, “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” necessitates another exegesis of the Mark text.

The Word of God when studied dilligently will build your faith (trust) in the Living God. However trust in the Lord can cost you. Abraham’s faith in the Lord cost him and his family. Yes, there is a cost to trusting in God. Jesus said in Matthew 10: 37-39: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

There are times trusting in God will compel us to ask why? This is the question the prophet Habakkuk asked in one of Scriptures most insightful books on what faith in God can cost us. Habakkuk was troubled with the violence he saw in Israel and seeks God for an answer. The Lord tells him He is doing a work that Habakkuk would not believe if told. That work was raising the Chaldean army to be a disciplinary rod of correction for Israel. Habakkuk is confused. He asks God how that can be since the Chaldeans were more violent than Israel. He decides to climb into his watchtower and wait for God’s answer.

The answer does come and the Lord says in Habakkuk 2:2-4: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For sill the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

God is asking Habakkuk to trust Him that He knows what He is doing even though to Habakkuk, God’s method is perplexing. Abraham was also asked to trust God when told to leave Ur and Haran, and it is what God asks of us even when we may not understand His methods.

Bob Pajer