What is faith?
Imagine this. You’ve gone for a hike to the top of Mt.Chocorua in the White Mountains and lingered just a little too long at the summit. Taking a shortcut to get down the mountain before dark, you become disoriented. What seemed like a straight shot was a huge mistake, and everywhere you look, the forest is closing in on you. As darkness settles and the wind picks up, the temperature drops to dangerous levels. Hypothermia is a serious threat. You need to hunker down on the ledge where you find yourself, tucking under the overhang, for the night. Not until daylight will you be able to see the way back to the trail.
It’s possible that you could drop off the ledge into the darkness, in the hope of landing in a lower, more sheltered spot. But it’s so dark, so inky. Your flashlight is a pinprick in the blackness. You can’t see a thing over the edge. Still, you could take that chance.
But what about this? Suppose you hear a voice out of the darkness, just below the ledge.
“I know where you are. I’ve been a guide in these mountains for many years. If you hang and drop, you’ll land just five feet down at the entrance to a cave, where you can shelter for the night. I’ll come and get you in the morning.”
This is a very different proposition from that leap into the darkness. Someone has spoken in clear, trustworthy terms.
This is walking by faith –believing what God says to you. Not a leap in the dark, not a vague hope that things will turn out OK, not wishful thinking. It’s stopping to listen for the voice of God, hearing from Him, and believing what He tells you.
Remember Abraham, the Father of Faith? God spoke to him, he believed what God said, and he obeyed. Pretty simple. Abraham didn’t have to try to figure out what to believe. He just had to listen for God’s voice and do what God told him to do. The rest is history, the history of salvation in Christ, our history.
“But what if God doesn’t say anything to me?”
He will. Our God is a communicator. He is always speaking to us. In crises large and small, if we will just be still and listen, he will guide, direct and comfort. Remember Israel’s dilemma at the Red Sea? Mountains on either side, Pharaoh’s chariots behind them, the impassable sea before them. No way out. God told Moses, “Stretch out your hand”. Moses heard God speak, believed Him, and acted on those words straight from God’s mouth. And that hidden path through the sea opened up for Israel.
Here is every day, practical, supernatural faith. Romans 10:17 tells us, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. Trust and obey – what a concept!