Hebrews 11:1-3; 13-19

Faith and the Word of God

Despite the many attempts throughout the centuries to prove or disprove the existence of God with sophisticated reasoning and arguments, no one has found hard material evidence either way. Many times, I have been frustrated with the lack of definite proof he could have provided. Then I understood that it is a loving God who provides the clues and testimonies and leaves room for us to receive and recognize them. We can then exercise our free will and come to him in faith. On the contrary, it is the dictator or the jailor that ruthlessly demonstrates his power every moment and forces false compassion on his inmates until he breaks them.

There is no way around coming to the real God in faith; it is part of his plan and is not mere emotions or wishful thinking. It has specific content and meaning. Everything starts with the assertion that the universe was created by God’s spoken word. I find this particular point easy to believe and it is backed up by science. Measurements of the flatness of the universe support the widely held hypothesis in modern physics of the zero-energy universe, which has been argued is the only kind that could come from nothing.

The severe difficulties start when we look beyond the doctrinal teachings of priests, apostles, church fathers, scholars and pastors.

Faith is a way of life rooted in the will of God and here we, as Christians, are faced with multiple challenges:

• How do we have faith in the right entity (the Father, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, or a messenger sent by God, be it angel, prophet, or minister)?
• How do we discern what comes from God, what comes from ourselves (own egoistic motivations), the zeitgeist, group dynamics or other sources? This might be the biggest challenge and where we are most vulnerable, as many historical tragedies have taught us.
• Even the greatest biblical examples who lived in faith, died without receiving the rewards that had been promised to them.
• Our faith will be tested and we might suffer terrible ordeals.
• In a spiritual sense we have no real home in this world and we long for a better place.

How do we deal with these challenges?

We need to tune in and thoughtfully listen and hear what he says, pray for patience, wisdom, understanding and discernment, pray for strength to follow through and trust and allow him to transform us.