Faith When It Seems Impossible

“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your

changing moods.” ~

C.S. Lewis

"Faith is not a sense, not sight, not reason, but a taking God at His Word." ~Evans

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is

what the ancients were commended for." ~Hebrews 11:1-2

The verse from Hebrews 11 always confused me just a little. It sort of made my head ache in the same way that taking the LSAT did. But lately God has been speaking to me about faith and the other day, that Hebrews verse suddenly made perfect sense. Faith is being sure and confident in God and what He has already said and done, so confident that even when everything around you points to your hope being impossible, you trust with certainty that God is at work and that He will deliver.

Noah trusted what God had told him and built the arc, despite the fact it probably didn't seem like there would be a flood for a while. Abraham was so sure of God's promise when he listened and almost sacrificed his son Isaac.

So what is faith for us then, today? I think faith is taking God's word to be the absolute truth, even when we don't "see" Him working at the moment. Faith could be, for instance, to not give in to hopelessness and depression when everything around you in today's economy says you won't be able to get work; faith would be trusting with certainty that God will take care of your needs somehow. Or faith could be to not settle for a jerk who doesn't treat you right because you don't believe that a good man can love you; faith would be trusting that if God wills you to be married then He'll bring the right kind of man into your life who loves you and treats you well (and that if He doesn't will for you to be married, that He has even better plans to use you to bring Him glory!)

Faith often defies all human reason. Maybe that's why the ancients were commended for it. Maybe faith that trusts God no matter what, defying all human logic and tangible evidence, stands out from the crowd and brings glory to God. Maybe if we all practiced our faith more often in our daily lives, we would stand out more as shining children of God.