“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
(Hebrews 11:6 ESV)
Have you ever heard someone say, “Seeing is believing”?
This idea dates back to ancient Greek times. It’s a proverb that means unless there is concrete evidence, you should suspend your belief.
Of course, the term seeing can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, to see something means that you conceptually understand the matter. For example, you might use the expression, “Oh, I see what you are talking about.” Here, you are not communicating what you physically see with your eyes, but instead what you know to be true in your mind.
On the other hand, to see something also means that you physically see it with your eyes. To express this, you might say, “I saw what happened.” While you might be using saw here to clarify your understanding of what just occurred, you are most likely using it to communicate your eyewitness account of an event.
What Is Faith?
The author of the book of Hebrews writes, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). In other words, faith is being certain about what you have not seen. In that way, then, faith sees—or understands—what cannot be seen in a physical sense.
Biblical faith differs from science. Science uncovers its knowledge from empirical research—that is, something becomes known because it is physically observed. Faith, however, does not operate in the same way. The author of Hebrews teaches that you can believe and accept that something is true despite never physically observing that reality.
How Does Faith Work?
How can you believe that God exists without having seen him? For the same reasons you believe that the sun shines, even though clouds cover it. You don’t have to physically see something to know it to be true. In fact, you know the sun shines because it illuminates everything else around you, though the sun itself may be hidden.
To believe in God means that you trust him, not because you physically see him, but because you have experienced him and come to know him, despite not seeing him. You trust that he exists and believe that what the Bible says about him is true.
Faith Trusts God
God’s “going-outs” are hidden from us. We trust in his apparent absence that he exists, even though we don’t see him physically active before our eyes. It actually honors God when we don’t see his every action, but we still trust who he is and what he has said. This gives him more honor than us demanding to only trust God if he lets us witness his every movement, or explain his every action.
It becomes impossible to please God when we insist that our “faith” in him means seeing his presence or work before our eyes. We have his Word, the Bible, and that’s enough for us to trust him.
The Faith That Pleases God
Though we do not physically see God, we believe that he exists. The very idea that you trust God, despite not physically seeing him, pleases him, because he knows that level of trust is true faith. God is pleased when we rest upon his Word, trusting him implicitly.
Saving faith, or the ultimate trust God desires, is faith in his Son, Jesus. Jesus came to earth, suffered for our sins, and rose from the dead to give us new life. By believing that he is truly God, who has fully atoned for all our sin, you can be forgiven, saved from eternal punishment, and brought into a new relationship with God. This new relationship changes your whole life. You begin to live “by faith”—relying on God’s promises every day (Galatians 2:20).
The Apostle Peter cheers us on in our faith when he says,
Though you have not seen him [God], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 7:8-9 NIV)
Friend, do you believe God exists? Have you opened God’s Word and heard what he has to say? Have you experienced him through reading his Word? We encourage you to start seeking God by reading his Word today and ask him to give you the gift of faith—to believe his every Word (Ephesians 2:8).