Faithfulness: The Assurance of the Unseen

Lord, hear my prayer,

listen to my cry for mercy;

in your faithfulness and righteousness

come to my relief. Psalm 143: 1

As I take a look at the fruit of Faithfulness, I feel the twinge of fear caused by my weak faith creeping up into my soul. The worries of life entangle me, and today I quake in my metaphorical boots as I wait for health issues to be resolved. It is ironic, then, that I am to write about faith today. It is not ironic…it is God’s perfect timing what brings me to this topic this morning. And as part of His carefully designed plan for me, I embrace it.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5: 7 that, “we live by faith, not by sight.” Faith is, therefore, our “north,” our guide, our directive. But what is faith? In Hebrews 11: 1 we see a marvelous definition of this elusive concept: “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” How wonderful! Faith allows us to be confident in the fact that He, whom we do not see with our physical eyes, is real and able to do what He said He would do, but which we have not experienced yet.

To the world, the concept of faith seems like a big joke. They laugh at us and call us naïve. They concoct all sorts of arguments to counter our statements of faith to the point of becoming belligerent. Their anger against our faith is rooted in their inability to understand it. Those who belong to the world are not capable of getting the concept of faith because it is not a worldly concept. Faith is part of the Spiritual realm and as such it is misunderstood if the Spirit who grows faith in us is not present in one’s soul.

We need He who is Faithful to inhabit our heart in order for us to begin to develop a measure of faith ourselves. It is precisely because God is Faithful that we are able to experience faithfulness as well, because He calls us to Him, like 1 Corinthians 1: 9 says: “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

Because He calls us, we are part of His fellowship and enjoy His faithfulness, which in turn begins to grow in us as we mature in Him. And it doesn’t matter how weak our faith still is, for the source of our faithfulness is His own, and His faithfulness is endlessly strong for all of us.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Romans 3: 3-4

He remains Faithful regardless of our lack of faith. He remains All Powerful and He remains our Strong Tower and our Fortress of Refuge and Strength in our times of trouble and concern. Because of our faith, our conviction and assurance in the things hoped for and not yet seen, we can confidently say that as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for you are with us; your rod and your staff, they comfort us. Psalm 23: 4

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