Prayer requests from members of our congregation include topics such as ‘restoration of true worship’ and ‘renewal of one’s first love for God’. In most instances, when we pray for such things, it’s because we have been unfaithful and hence feel distant from God. The cure to this problem is very simple. It is to repent! This is a question of obedience.
In contrast, there are circumstances where faith is required from us. When we look at the Bible where God required faith, these were instances when God seemed non-existent and when people were struggling with God’s silence to their prayers.
If you look at Hebrews Chapter 11, which is often called the ‘Hall of Faith’ chapter of the Bible, verse 6 describes the type of faith that pleases God.
“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)
In this verse, to ‘believe that he exists’ does not simply mean to agree with theism. When we consider the original audience of the book of Hebrews, Christians at the time were facing extreme persecution. It was written at a time when God didn’t seem real as He wasn’t coming to their rescue. It is times like these when faith is required from us. Moreover, to believe that ‘he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ means to not lose hope when we can feel disheartened by God’s silence to our prayers in difficult times. It means to keep believing that God is listening and will respond to our prayers.
Faith is demanded from us when God does not appear to be responding to our prayers. Such circumstances are very common during our faith journey. Just before Paul died as a martyr, he confessed that he ‘kept the faith’. It seems odd that such a great apostle would say something so obvious, but living by faith involves continually facing such conflicting circumstances.
There will many times when God doesn’t appear to be working in our lives or we don’t feel the warmth of God’s presence. However, we need to live by completely trusting in God, based on the love He has fully revealed to us by giving his only Son to die on the cross for us.
Our faith needs to be objective and grounded on the Good News. We need to keep remembering that God loved us so much that He gave his only Son to save us. A surprisingly large number of Christians misunderstand this demand for faith and instead think that their relationship with God needs to be somehow restored. They wait for God’s grace in the form of a change in circumstances or feeling. If they don’t experience this kind of grace, they wait and pray with a disheartened heart.
We must learn how to live by faith. The Christian life is about living by faith.
“We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7)
