During my stay in Alaska, we drove down the Seward Highway, tracking with the railroad along the coast of the Chugach National Forest. At the place where Turnagain Arm gets really narrow there's a trail head with wonderful amenities - plenty of paved parking, picnic benches with coal grills, sturdy planked boardwalks to get you started into the forest and beside the roaring waterfall. The Chugach is a forest that yields to a range of snowy mountain peaks. But that day, I just had to take my daughter's word for it. The cloud ceiling was so low that it obscured the timberline. There was no way to know that those pines and birches fell away to display rugged black ridges framed in white.
The definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1 is frequently quoted, and yet it can be misunderstood. In the New International Version of the text, the last phrase is "certain of what we do not see." How can that thing that cannot be seen be so clear and compelling in my mind that I can assert with boldness that it exists? The first phrase of this definition of faith is, "being sure of what we hope for." Can we be sure of whatever we hope for? Can we just conjure up an image of a preferred future and be sure that it will arrive? With 'faith' can I be certain of anything I can imagine? Is it the strength of my 'faith' that makes it so? Is faith the power that makes any dream a reality?
Some folks say the answer to those questions is "Yes!" Conceive it, believe it, achieve it - that's the non-Biblical concept of faith. You have the power to believe anything, and by the strength of that belief, pursue and obtain the object of your faith. That is not what Hebrews 11 is saying.
Like mountains I could not see, but believed were there, I based my faith on the word of my daughter. I trust her, so I trust her word, and believed in that which she described for me. We see what is unseen by putting our faith in the description of the one who HAS seen it. The writer of Hebrews himself, along with his list of Biblical stand-outs, are demonstrating faith in a hope that God has revealed; an unseen future that God has cast a vision of by His Word. Biblical faith refers to trusting God at His Word, not convincing ourselves that we will achieve our own imagined desires.
Look at all the references to God's Word in the text: verse 3 - "the universe was formed at God's command;" verse 4 - "God spoke well of [Abel's] offering;" verse 7 - "Noah, when warned about things not yet seen;" verse 8 - "Abraham, when called to go;" verse 11 - "[Abraham] considered [God] faithful who had made the promise." This entire "faith chapter" is about illustrating conviction and certainty in the Word of God. We don't conjure and imagine as the prerequisite to exercising faith, we read and listen for the realities that God would describe to us and we put our faith in them. In Him.
There are mountains up there above the clouds. There is hope for eternal life. There is a heavenly rest for our souls. There is perfection and joy waiting for us. But it isn't so because I have imagined it so, and desire it so, and am camping out on my vision and "that's my story and I'm sticking to it." It is so because God said so. I don't trust my imagination. I don't have Creator-power to make something out of nothing. Only God can do that. Trust Him.
Pray: Maker of heaven and earth, You are the source of truth and the source of all that is and ever will be. Help me to know You through knowing your Word. Help me to trust you and place my faith fully in you. Your Word is full of love and hope and blessing; it is not a burden or a risk to trust you. It is a delight.
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