8-3-16 - What We Cannot See

The last line of the reading from Genesis and the first in the passage from Hebrews flow so naturally into each other, it is as though they were one text. From “And Abram believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness,” we go right into:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

In fact, the writer of Hebrews uses Abraham as Exhibit A of his thesis, both Abraham's faithfulness in leaving his homeland and family and setting out with Sarai into the land God had promised him (“You think there is only one God, and he talks to you?!?”) and his believing the preposterous promise of heirs more numerous than the stars in the heavens or the sand on the seashore. Abraham is a pretty mixed bag when it comes to character and choices, but in his fidelity to the One God and the intimacy of that relationship as it is expressed in Genesis, he is a shining star.

Why is it so hard for us to feel sure about things we only hope for – for, once we receive what we hope for, we no longer need to hope. Why waver in our conviction about things we cannot see, cannot prove? We trust in engineers we don’t know, elected officials we hope have our interest at heart, online security, relationships, a whole web of systems and networks we hope will continue to work for us. Why not extend that degree of faith to the God whose Spirit is so often clearly discernible, if never visible?

Often what makes it so difficult is what we do see – evidence of pain and sorrow and the persistence of evil in this world. In the moments when those “realities” overwhelm us, the content of our faith can look like a fairy story told to calm anxious children. That’s why faith is a muscle that must be exercised, and practiced and tested. We never know what is around the next corner; we do know that God has been faithful and good throughout our lives, even in the times that were painful.

It comes down to this: our faith in what we cannot see needs to be stronger than our doubt in what we can. We believe, until faith gives way to sight.