In Hebrews 1:11, faith is described as confidence for what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see. Isn't that interesting? Let me try to break this down a little. So by having confidence in things we hope for, we have faith. Faith is also described as an assurance of things we do not see. So, according to this verse, to have faith we must have hope. And so, what does hope look like? Let me try and explain it with everyday experiences.
At night when we sleep, many of us don't think it but we anticipate that we will wake up to a new fresh day, right? We anticipate that when we get out of bed we will walk and function as normally. But, most times, we don't think of these actions as anything more than normal. However, what if one day we wake up and we can no longer use our bodies to function normally? Wouldn't this change our perspective about the "hope"? Wouldn't we now hope that we could one day be able to walk again? So wouldn't that need a much bigger ounce of hope than what we had before? So what changes? The quantity?
Let me bring this closer home. Something or rather someone we're all familiar with; Noah. We all know his story. We know that he trusted that when God said build an ark the rain will come, he did not doubt, just obeyed and had faith. What did he hope for? Was it that the rain would not come? Or did he hope that the rain would come but he and his family would be safe in the ark... Do we usually hope that bad things don't happen to us? Or like Noah, do we hope that when the bad things do happen, that God is with us? Don't we still hope that He has a plan for us? Isn't that what faith is?
One more story. About a woman this time. A woman who held on to hope despite the trials she went through. Her name was Hannah. She was barren, so she prayed to God to give her a son. It did not matter that she was being mocked and ridiculed, she still held on to the hope that one day she would have a child. So, because she possessed such hope, she made an oath to God that she would give up her son to the service of the Lord. And when the Lord granted her desire, she did not falter on her promise but did as she had said and gave him up for God's service. Can you imagine such faith?! Here she was giving up the one thing she had asked of the Lord day and night. Let's think of it within our own context. Would you be willing to give up to God the one thing you cherish more than anything? No. I didn't think so. So what's the difference? Do we not have enough faith?
I say it's only one word, willingness. That's the difference between the faith of Abraham and that of Jesus disciples. Abraham did not know everything he needed to know about God to take that step and leave his home. He only did one thing, he willingly obeyed. And why? Because he had hope that God had a plan for him and his family. On the other hand, Jesus disciples had walked with him, seen miracles He did and still they did not believe He was who He said He was. They were not willing to just believe and have faith. Suppose that's what having faith is all about? The willingness to believe even when all evidence shows different. But what promise do we have? God made a promise that He is with us unto the ends of the earth, so we can have hope that even when things go south, God will give us enough grace to sustain us through it.
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