Faith is Learned
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~4 min read
Hi there! Welcome to Well Lit Soul. Where we seek God, face darkness, and shine brighter. This season of the blog is all about learning. So today’s blog is called “Faith is Learned”.
What is faith? I think the first response people might have is either a general definition, which might be, “complete trust or confidence in someone or something” or the biblical definition which says, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” in Hebrews 11:1. And I would definitely agree, but I want to focus on one of the layers beneath that.
If we look beyond the surface, we see that faith is something you grow and build. Trust, confidence, hope, and evidence are not generated quickly. They have to be deliberately and carefully cultivated in every relationship. And when it comes to God, the most important relationship we can have, it means we have to get to know Him and His ways in order to have that trust and hope in Him. It’s more than knowing He exists or believing His glory by spending time in nature. It’s having complete confidence in His power and promises based on the things you can’t always see with your eyes.
We can look at examples in scripture and see Abraham and Sarah written in what some call the “Faith Hall of Fame”. Both are recognized for their faith in Hebrews 11:8-13 for bearing a child in their old age who would ultimately produce descendants who would become a great nation. Verse 13 says they, “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” But the part I want to point out is that when God first told them these plans to establish His covenant, they both laughed incredulously at God. Genesis 17:16-17 said Abraham fell on his face and laughed after God said He would bless Sarah and she would become a mother of nations. In the next chapter, Genesis 18:10-15, Sarah laughed when she overheard the Lord telling Abraham that she would bear a son. And when the Lord asked why Sarah laughed, she denied it. But of course, the Lord knew otherwise and called her out on it.
In these examples we can also see that faith is not necessarily linear. Abraham and Sarah did not believe God would, or maybe even could, give them a son. So He assured them in the form of a question in Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” And of course, as He always does, God delivered and kept His promise. They both had to learn to have trust and confidence in God and to quiet their doubt when they didn’t understand His plan or ways. And when I say it’s not a quick process, I really mean that because Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when their son Isaac was born. Genesis 12:4 says that Abram was 75 years old when God first told him to leave his home country. So it had been at least 25 years of working directly with God, following His instructions, learning His patterns, and also straying from His commands before Abraham’s faith was really established when he willingly took his precious son to be sacrificed in Genesis 22.
I say all of this to say, faith is definitely something you build over time and it’s not always a straight path. And if you’re having difficulties in your faith, know that it’s a big part of the growth process. If you walk away in the midst of the challenge, it’s like unplugging a video game in the middle of a battle. It disrupts the progress and all that work will be waiting for you when you come back again. This life is a heavy roller coaster with a countless amount of unknown twists and turns, but hang on. Keep fighting for God. If He can defeat death, He will certainly be victorious over anything we encounter in life. And remember that even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.
Connection Question: What is an important lesson you’ve learned about faith? What are some ways you’ve grown in your faith recently? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to connect with you about it.
