A Proof of Things Not Seen

 February 6, 2024

Tuesday

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB 2020) 1 Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.

We must be careful when we read a verse like this one. Some will want to say that faith comes out of wishes. They will say that believing will cause things to happen. Thank God this is not true! Imagine the chaos in the world.

Each of us knows that children cannot have everything they wish for. We call a child who gets everything wished for spoiled. This child is hard to live with. This child expects everything to be as he or she wishes even if this will cause harm. This child is the center of his own universe. This child will be lonely.

God loves us far too much to give us everything we wish for. He has a plan for each of us. That plan is beyond what we could wish for. That plan is the best we can have.

Faith comes from a word from God. He makes a promise or a statement that we can count on. We choose to believe it. We receive His word into our hearts. We pray with thanksgiving that God will accomplish what He has already said. Our prayers do not cause God to act against His will. Our prayers agree with God in His will.

Faith becomes the calm stream that runs through our hearts. We believe and watch God act. We believe when we don’t see Him act. We believe because He has never let one of His promises fail. He will not do so now.

The proof of things now seen is that calmness that flows through our hearts as we believe when it doesn’t seem possible.

I remember the aunt of a little boy who had an inoperable brain tumor standing in front of a church saying that God had told her that this little boy would grow up to be a godly man. I wanted to rush forward and say, “Don’t say that. It’s impossible!”

However, I was there when the father of the boy said that the surgeon who was only supposed to be taking a biopsy of the tumor had removed the whole thing. I should have known: when God says something is going to happen, it must happen. That little boy is a grown man today.

So, faith comes from a word from God. A word from God never fails.