Deep, Simple Faith

Funny, the other day I was driving to work and listening to a devotion, when the question popped into my head, "What is faith?"  Wow, did that one boggle my mind most of the day.  Yes, I write about it and I know the feeling I get when I experience faith in something, but I really wanted to better understand what God said about faith.

I searched and found our verse for today.  So many powerful words for us to explore.  "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Faith, confidence, hope, assurance . . . all words for us to consider.  We can hope for so many things.  The other day, we were travelling and I hoped for a safe flight.  I hope for good health. I hope for nice weather.  Yet, the type of hope that breeds faith is something much deeper, much broader.

The hope that I believe God is sharing with us is the hope for where deep faith comes from.  The hope that there is something bigger and better than all of us - the hope for eternal life.  True hope that when things are difficult around us, that God is there with us to guide us down a path that we can't see at the moment.  Faith is that strong level of hope that whatever God says is the right thing to do, I will do with faith that His will is much greater than mine.

I have to admit, there are times when my faith waivers, that what God is asking me to do, I just can't "see" that end result - so I don't proceed.  There are times when God may be tugging on my heart to reach out to a stranger with a kind word, a small gift, etc.  Yet, due to my own personal misconceptions or anxiousness, I don't.  I have many ways in which I need to do better in Christ's vision for my life.  If I had deep, simple faith all the time, I wonder what my life would be like?  How much more fulfilled would my life be than it is today?

Stepping out in faith can be a scary place to be - stepping out in God's plan for us can be terrifying.  What if I fail?  What if I don't come to the results that He is expecting from me?  Yet, if I don't do anything, how will I ever know?  I need to listen to God more, and to have the simple DEEP faith and confidence that what I hope for, what God wants for me, is real.  I need to have the great  blessed assurance that although I can't see, God will do great things.

What about you?  Is there a plan that God is tugging on your heart?  Is it time for you to step out in faith that God knows better than we for our plan?  It's hard to have such deep faith - but I know that if we have that deep faith, He will not let us down.  He never does.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (NIV) Hebrews 11:1