The scripture explains faith as an assurance of what is unseen. In other words, God’s Spirit reveals things that He has seen when we struggle to see them for oursleves. We need to know and understand how God initiates faith and finishes it. When people are ignorant about the plans of God, He does not impose His will at once but starts it with the subjects people can understand. Jesus used parables that used everyday happenings to teach people about His Kingdom. Initially, God applied this principle to accomplish His purpose through ordinary people. Knowing this is important because the unchanging God still works using our faith in every stage. Today people find it hard to apply faith by ignoring God’s initiative, longing to achieve the outcome.

Excitements And Anxieties

God always offers us things that have never existed before. He created a woman for the companionship of Adam. Adam never imagined her existence and could not understand what God was creating as he did not know the plans of God. In this scenario, God directly introduced the woman to him without preparing his heart to receive her. By seeing her for the first time, Adam felt a bond with her because she was of his bone and was amazed by the provision of God. His excitement prepared his heart to stay away from his creator, to cling to her. Similarly, many a time, the blessings of God separate us from Him. The author depicts this scenario in the following verse.

The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man. ”That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Genesis 2:23-24 (NIV)

God is still working amidst us in the same manner. When we cannot even understand, He provides us His blessings directly, and in our excitement, we use them to separate ourselves from God. Jonah was reluctant to obey God and to run away from Him, used His provisions to buy a ticket on the ship that went in a different direction. God has given us wonderful friends and relatives but are we using them to come closer to God or to go away from Him?

The Novelty

Sometimes, we might wonder whether God has finished creating everything or is there something left to create. Though His creation is complete, He gradually reveals them to us as we grow closer to Him. We do not know all of His plans, nor can we fathom the extent of His grace but God interacts with everyone differently according to their need. When we do not realize this, we expect God to act just like He acted with others and this stops us from receiving His blessings.

However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)

God created us uniquely in His image and has dealt with everyone uniquely. So, we cannot predict how He is going to deal with us but it is better to open our hearts and stand still, allowing God to accomplish His purpose.

Faith: Then And Now

We are saved by His grace through our faith but even before redemption, people had faith. Our faith is about the forgiveness of our sins and assurance of eternal life based on the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Whereas, their faith was believing in the presence of the unseen God. To encourage people to understand the unseen God, God used certain people as His representatives to carry out His will among them. Through His representatives, God rewarded people who earnestly sought Him.

And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

In the ancient days, people followed God expecting that they would be redeemed one day. Whereas, we believe because of the redemption God accomplished amongst us.

Just Shall Live By Faith

God’s ways of dealing are new every morning and people cannot understand them. People need precedence in everything to trust and obey. God does explain to us before He accomplishes His will, yet He ignites our faith to do His will in our daily walk of life. This kind of faith is recorded in the book of Hebrews when the author wrote about the parents of Moses. They did not know the plan God kept for Moses in the future, yet were strengthened by God to preserve His life.

By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

Hebrews 11:23 (NIV)

People were not able to look at the face of Moses, as it reflected the glory of God because of his acquaintance with Him on the mountaintop. Hence, Moses had to hide his face from them. God showed the divine beauty in the face of infant Moses and made the parents understand that he was not an ordinary child. He did not disclose His whole strategic plan yet helped them believe.

Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He often tells us that we are not ordinary people but His children and heirs to His Kingdom. Our problem is that we want to understand His plans before putting our trust in Him and obeying Him. Expecting God to reveal His plans would not accomplish His will. We should love Him with all our hearts and minds to believe in Him without seeing His plans. We can trust God only when we tune our ears to hear His voice. Today we trust Him by listening to the voices of people who serve God. By hearing the voice of others, we can believe but cannot obey Him. When we do not receive the voice of God directly, we fail to implement His instructions in our daily lives. The parents of Moses embraced the courage to act against the decree of the King. We often fail to be brave and go against societal norms.

Application

Peter and John left their profession and followed Jesus by hearing His voice. A man born blind perceived the voice of Jesus and obeyed and received his eyesight. Two servants carried the water to show to the master of the banquet when they heard His voice.

Do not follow any precedence to believe in God. Just start the faith walk by trusting His incredible love. Peter and John, while making a man born lame walk, did not look for precedence. They allowed the name of Jesus, residing in their hearts, to do that miracle. They did not doubt His action but spoke the words with faith. Today, we are only imitating the people of God while wanting to perform miracles and face failures. Believe in God, and allow Him to do His will not according to our knowledge but according to His immeasurable wisdom. Job understood this with his encounter with God, not by the counselling of his so-called friends. Finally, Job believed and declared the following words exhibiting his faith in God.

I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Job 19:25 (NIV)

After facing the soul-threatening counselling of his friends that might draw him away from the love of His master, he felt that the grace of God still held him in His steadfast love. Then He boldly declared that,

I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job 42:2 (NIV)

God will do all things in our lives if we stop asking His plans and love Him with all our hearts and minds. When we love Him we will hear His voice and we will have the power to discern the voice of God from the voices of this world. Are we expecting great things from God? Let us serve God in every little way.

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. 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. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20 (NIV)