Faith in Uncertain Times
We are living in extraordinary days. The coronavirus pandemic has already shown itself to be the crisis of our generation. Perhaps with the exception of the generation who remember the Second World War, few of us will have seen such widespread disruption to daily life on a global scale. What the actual outcome of all this will be is yet unknown, but the disruption to normal life, the fear – the widespread panic – these things are all too real. And as followers of Jesus Christ, we are confronted urgently with the question of how to respond to these things Christianly – how to navigate them as authentic followers of Jesus Christ. What will it look like simply to live as Christian people – in such unprecedented times?
In a hopeless and troubled world, Christian believers stand out as those who live by faith. But what is true and authentic faith? The writer of Hebrews raises this very question. He calls us to endurance in our walk with Christ (Hebrews 10:36). In exhorting us to persevere, he quotes from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk: “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:37) The righteous people of God are by definition a people of faith. Those who don’t have saving faith will face the displeasure of God – even the judgment of God. But the believing, faith-filled people of God will know God’s salvation.
Christians today must continue to be a people who persevere by faith. But what is faith and what does it look like in daily living? Hebrews 11:1 provides the answer: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.” Humans tend to appreciate evidence. If we want me to buy a product, we first request a sample, take a test drive, or verify a thousand online reviews. When it comes to science, we don’t believe it until it has been verified by multiple peer-reviewed studies. We want proof. We want to verify with our own eyes and touch. But there is something about faith that simply will not be boiled down in that way. Faith, Hebrews tells us, is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. God, by His Word, makes promises and commitments to us about things that we cannot see and touch. As the Bible declares elsewhere, “…we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).
The bottom line is that faith is having the assurance that God’s Word is true and His promises are valid. Faith is having the conviction that the things God tells us about – things we cannot see and feel and scientifically account for – are real and substantial. The writer of Hebrews provides one such example: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3). Having faith in things that we cannot see or touch does not come naturally to skeptical humans. But faith has always been the required response of God’s own people: “…by it [faith] the people of old received their commendation.” (Hebrews 11:2). This week, let us press forward in faith, proving that we “are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:39)