In last week’s lesson on faith looking at the second half of Hebrews 11:3, we discovered that creation, the coming forth of tangible things out of the invisible by the Word of God, is the evidence we need that God is powerful enough to change our circumstances. We can put aside doubt by putting our faith in the God who can create wonderful things out of nothing, simply by speaking!
Up until this point, we have been looking at a definition of faith. We’ve seen that faith is the fundamental fact of existence, the firm foundation that makes everything worthwhile (vs. 1a); we’ve seen that faith is our handle, our anchor, on what we cannot see (vs. 1b); we’ve seen that faith was responsible for the promised salvation of our ancestors (vs. 2); and we’ve seen that we can believe in faith just by looking at the world around us (vs. 3). But how necessary is faith? I mean, we’re saved by the blood of Jesus, right? So why this belief in stuff we can’t see? Let’s go to Heb. 11:6 for the answer:
“Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 HCSB)
It’s actually pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Faith is important so that we can PLEASE God! But there’s more: “For the one who DRAWS NEAR to HIM must BELIEVE that He exists . . .”
In other words, if you want to please God by drawing near to Him, you must first believe that He exists. If you wish to experience the gift of Salvation in your OWN life, you must first believe that God IS. And since we cannot SEE God, in order to be saved, we have to put our trust in something unseen. Faith in something that we simply HOPE for and that our ancestors BELIEVED in is a prerequisite for PLEASING GOD.
Let’s say you are in a great war. Your son was born after you were shipped overseas, and you haven’t been able to go back home in four years. You write regular letters to your son; you send him gifts; and you know that your wife is telling your son about you. But what if, despite that, your son doesn’t really believe that he has a father? Wouldn’t it be sad if he refused to believe you existed, simply because he had never seen you? It is no different with God. We can’t see Him, but He is constantly reaching out to us, sending us gifts, taking care of us, trying to talk with us; and what pleases Him the most is simply the act of us believing that He is really there!
But the text goes on: “for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He . . . REWARDS THOSE WHO SEEK HIM“!
Let’s say that you are a secretary in a busy company. Your job is to help the busy executives with their clerical work. You enjoy your job because it makes you happy to help out and it gives you joy to know that you are making a difference in busy lives. But what if the executives were to never seek your help? They insist on doing the photocopying for themselves. They are always late for meetings and appointments because they are struggling to put paper in the printer. Their reports are always messy because they can’t seem to figure out how to make their work fit into the template the company requires.
Why don’t they come to you for help? Because they believe that they can do a better job themselves. They don’t trust you with their business. They don’t believe you can actually help them. Wouldn’t it make you sad if no one believed that you could help?
It’s no different with God. So often we say we believe in Him, but we refuse to let Him help us. We try to do everything on our own, we carry our own worries, we bear our own burdens, we refuse the comfort and help that God not only promises but dishes out upon us in double measure. And yes, this makes God sad! Sad enough to say that those who wish to please Him must first believe that He “rewards those who seek Him!”
Enough to ponder, friends. But do ponder this: If we want to please our Lord and Creator, we must first have FAITH in Him. We must BELIEVE that He exists, we must BELIEVE in His gifts for us, and we must MAKE USE of those gifts! For without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him.
Join us next week for some concrete examples of how these basic principles we’ve been studying have been played out in the lives of our ancestors.
God bless you!
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Author, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets website, www.scripturalnuggets.org , Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org .
(To access tne entire “Faith” mini-series, please click here.)