So, what is God asking you to trust Him for that runs completely against your normal experience? Perhaps you cannot imagine victory over a temptation that has taken you down so many times. Perhaps the financial need in front of you and the resources available simply do not add up. Perhaps a marriage is harder than you expected, or a family member you have prayed for over many years seems no closer to Christ. Whatever your situation, the call of faith is to look at those facts honestly and to believe God anyway. That is exactly what Abraham did.

Faith Is Believing God

Why is it easier to encourage a friend to believe God in the middle of their trials than it is to believe God when trouble comes to our own door? Romans 4addresses that question through an incident in the life of Abraham placed there by the Spirit of God with a specific intention: to teach us. Between verses 18 and 19 lies a span of fifteen years. This is not a story about a single, isolated act of faith. It is the record of a lifetime of looking heavenward.

The passage opens by saying Abraham believed “against hope” in hope. Against what he could see, he believed in what he could not see. That is faith. And before exploring what faith is, it is worth being clear about what it is not. Faith is not an optimistic outlook. It is not simply hoping for the best. At its most basic, faith is believing God. That word “believe” in verse 18 is the verb form of the noun we translate as faith, appearing 244 times in the New Testament. The simplicity of that deserves to be felt.

Christianity is a supernatural faith, and the world often scoffs at it, dismissing Scripture as an ancient book out of touch with science and reality. That dismissal would make sense were it not for one factor the world refuses to consider: God Himself. Why do we believe in the universal flood, the parting of the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho falling at the sound of trumpets? We believe all of it because we believe in the all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God of the universe. You must factor God into the picture. You must believe that whatever is going on in your life right now, God is right in the middle of it.

Faith Is Grounded in the Word of God

Heavenward-looking faith is not only a general trust in God. It is grounded specifically in what God has said. The passage notes that Abraham believed “according to that which was spoken.” There are millions of books in the world, but only one came from our Creator, and what God says in that book, He expects us to believe. Abraham received a word from God. He acted in faith according to what was spoken.

There is an important distinction here between subjective and objective leading. Subjective leading is an inward sense that something is right even without a specific verse, as in the choice of a life partner or a vocational calling. These leadings are real, but they must be held with open hands. Objective leading is rooted in the clear statements of Scripture. When you pray for a lost loved one, seek victory over temptation, or bring a pressing need before God, there are verses that speak directly to those situations.

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