Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | …faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.  Romans 10:17

When Allied troops went into the concentration camps of Europe at the end of World War 2, soldiers found a Star of David carved on a wall with these words beneath it: “I believe in the sun–even when it does not shine.  I believe in love–even when it is not shown.  I believe in God–even when he does not speak.”   This was the commitment of faith by someone who chose to hold on to his or her faith regardless of how dark the circumstances were.

What you believe determines what you are, and it is faith in God which gives people dignity and lets them live with purpose in the darkness.  How do you have that kind of faith?

First–You must believe in the necessity of faith no matter how dark the hour.  The Bible says, “…Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).   The only way this is possible is to get your eyes off the circumstances and refocus them on the Almighty.

Second–Belief which transforms darkness to light is belief in the simplicity of faith.   The analogy of a little child was what Jesus used to help His disciples understand this.  In Luke 18:17, Jesus said that unless his disciples accepted God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, they’d never get in.  Friend, there will always be a tension between circumstances and faith.  It was true of Abraham centuries ago, and it is still true of us today.  Our emotions and feelings are products of our circumstances, and when they are not very pleasant, our faith begins to sag until we tell our emotions where to get off.

Dr. Guy Duffield said that in the days of the infant church, believers would greet each other asking, “How is your faith?”  But today we ask, “How are you feeling?”  And the tension between faith and feeling often leaves us with the impression that God has let us down.

One of the myths that a lot of people have bought into is the concept that if you become a believer, everything wonderful is going to happen to you.  You will be successful, healthy, and well-liked by your contemporaries.  Friend, God never made that promise, but He did categorically promise to be with you when you walk through the fire and the flood.

Third– belief which enables you to overcome is belief in the power of faith.  But this needs clarification.  What you need is not faith in faith, but faith in the power of God.  “All things are possible to him who believes,” said Jesus in Mark 9:23.  Was this merely poetic license?  Or was He saying that there is no limit to what faith can accomplish?  On two occasions, Jesus used the analogy of faith so strong that you could command a mountain to move.  Impossible, right?  Of course!  But what He was teaching very clearly (and those who heard knew this with certainty) was this: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Remember that, when the doctor says, “There is nothing more that medical science can do,” or your human resources are depleted, and God is your only hope.  I’m thinking of one husband who told his wife, “All our money is gone.  From now on, we’ve got to trust God,” and she responded, “Has it really come to that?”

Fourth–Believe in the reward of faith in response to simple obedience.   “According to your faith it will be done to you,” Jesus told a blind man who recovered his sight (Matthew 9:29).  Augustine put it: “Faith is believing what we do not see, and the result of faith is seeing what we believe.”  Some say that God no longer does the miraculous, and for them, nothing much ever really happens.  But for those who simply trust God, it is amazing what happens.  Faith does make the difference.

Resource reading: Hebrews 11:24-31