“Even. If. He. Does. Not.” Remember this phrase? Three exiled Hebrews said it a long time ago. They spoke these words to an angry potentate in the most dire of circumstances. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before the gigantic golden statue the king of the foreign land had erected in his own honor. The law had been passed; every citizen of the kingdom was required to bow low and pay homage to this statue and the king the statue represented. This went too far for these Israelites.

What is faith? The Book of Hebrews tells us:

“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

What is presumption? The dictionary tells us:

“An idea that is taken to be true, and often used as the basis for other ideas, although it is not known for certain.”

They sound the same, at least in a sense. And surely the most cynical among us take them to actually be the same thing. After all, both faith and presumption are about a lack of sight and tangible evidence. It’s believing something as real even without empirical certainty. But despite this, they are not the same. Not at all. And perhaps the biggest difference between the two is about result.

Presumption assumes a certain result – a specific end game. But faith is bigger than that. Faith is deeper than that. Because in faith, we are not “outcome” driven; we are God-driven. That is, our faith is in God Himself: His wisdom, His providence, His love, His justice. It’s in Him, as opposed to a certain outcome.

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