What Is Faith?

Apr 24, 2023

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

- Hebrews 11:1

I often ask myself, “Do I have enough faith?” Over and over in the Bible I read about the effects of faith.

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20,

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”

- Matthew 17:20

James writes in James 5:15,

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.

- James 5:15

Since I have never moved a mountain, and not every prayer I pray makes the sick person well, I feel I must ask myself: “Do I have enough faith?”

The dictionary defines faith as: “Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”

That being the case, I honestly believe I have complete trust and confidence in Jesus and His ability to do anything. So why do I feel my faith is inadequate?

It is only when I read and study Hebrews 11:1 (and the rest of Hebrews 11) that I find comfort and understanding. Verse 1 says that “faith is confidence of what we hope for…”, which says to me that faith is tied to hope. Faith is indeed trusting God for everything, but hope expands that by not only looking at the present, but trusting God for the future. As verse 1 goes on to say, it is the “... assurance of what we do not see.”

In other words, if my faith is truly in God and not in myself or my circumstances, then I will have a confident assurance that what I hope for will one day come to fruition, but in God’s timing, not mine.

It means that the mountains that need to be moved (relationships reconciled, the end of hunger and poverty) will one day be moved, and that healing, both for myself and for others, will one day take place.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely need to increase my faith, and it is an ongoing process. But, I do know this: If my faith is truly in God and not in my hopes being fulfilled in my timing, then it means I trust Him for what I currently do not see.

The rest of Hebrews 11 affirms this, as we read of person after person, and people after people, who did not immediately see that which they hoped for, but lived with confident assurance in the One who would one day make their hopes become reality.

I cannot move mountains and I cannot make sick people well, but I do have faith in the One who can.

And I believe, beyond a shadow of doubt, that not if, but when He chooses to make that mountain move, and not if, but when He chooses to make the sick well, it will happen to bring Him all the glory and honor He deserves. What a day of rejoicing that will be!