Godly Faith Is Different From Confidence

Faith is an abstract idea.

When applied outside of religious context, it broadly means confidence - confidence to materialize a hope, or to weather a trial. Apart from past successes, people really have very little basis for such faith. No matter how influential a person is, he is subject to dynamics and circumstances pretty much beyond his control.

Do circumstances simply fall neatly in place? I don’t find that any easier to accept than arguments that the universe and life banged into being by random elements and forces.

I am inclined to believe that there is a sovereign Creator. And that He is still in charge, for “in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). For me, this is way more reassuring than to leave hope to chance, or to myself to mess with.

But don’t you first have to catch His attention? Well, His promise to His people is that “the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Jos 1:9). If you want to be doubly sure, however, there is no harm in communicating frequently with Him.

God favors those who trust in Him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Heb 11:6).

But faith, being faith, is about what is yet to be seen. So, it is a chicken and egg thing. It helps to have previous prayers answered.

I can share one testimony. Five years ago, my wife suffered from placenta previa in our third pregnancy. (The placenta gets planted at the bottom of the womb in such a manner it covers the birth canal. The muscles are the weakest at that area of the womb. As the pregnancy develops, shearing can tear the placenta off the womb’s wall. Excessive bleeding could result. It is life threatening to both mother and child, or the child could suffer major defect for the rest of her life. Last year, a lady in Singapore died from it but the baby survived.)

To cut the story short, my wife did have bleeding on the 7th month. She was prescribed rest in the hospital till near term. And praise God, she did not lose a single drop of blood during labor.

With my share of answered prayers, I enjoy a track record on which to base my faith. And yet, I still find myself struggling when trials come. The issue is this – over time, we easily forget, even dismiss, a miracle. Think how the Israelites forgot such an awesome miracle as the parting of the Red Sea!

It helps to keep a spiritual journal. Record how your prayers are answered. Include the circumstances and how they develop that make you suspect that God is at work. They serve as solid basis for your faith in the future.

Faith is not faith till it is demonstrated in action. If Abraham had reasoned to himself that God would somehow spare Isaac from being sacrificed, and so not be bothered to carry it out, would that be counted as faith?

In the same way, the faith we have in materializing a hope would likely require certain actions on our part. But what are these actions? We should quieten ourselves in prayer, and act and move ahead as God directs. And we should keep praying and listening. That direction could come from unusual events like an unexpected call, or subtly like a decal of passing vehicle, or in a message somewhere in the middle of a movie.

How else is Godly faith different from secular confidence?

For my family and I, we claim this. “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Prov 10:22)

By: Ianny Lau