Living by Faith: Hoping in God

In Hebrews 11:1-2, the author writes, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.” So what is faith? Well, the Bible has a lot to say about that question and many books have been written in answer to it, but let’s stay close to what the Word of God says right here and define it in two inter-related ways, one of which I’ll present in this post and the other of which I’ll present in the next post in this series. 

First, the author says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” Now, as for those who believe in God through faith in Jesus Christ, exactly what do we hope for? Ideally, we hope that the things God has said are true, are in fact true. We hope that the things God has said will happen, will in fact happen. In other words, as believers, we hope in the will, words, and ways of God because we trust God. 

When our Father says that something is true, we have an assurance that it is in fact true. When our Father says that something’s going to happen, we have an assurance that it is in fact going to happen. We don’t just hope in random things that this world or our flesh would have us hope in, rather, we hope in the purposes and promises of our Father as expressed through his words because we trust him. So, we can say that faith is hoping in God according to his word.