It had been a discouraging several months. Nothing seemed to be going right. In my prayers I began asking God to show me why. I knew there had to be a good reason for all of this, but I couldn't see how it could help me, or anybody else. I just asked God to show me why. But the weeks passed into months and I still didn't have my answer, and it seemed that things were getting worse instead of better. Doubts began to come. I knew that God so loved the world... but what about me? Had he forgotten me. Did He know me personally and love me as an individual, or was it more like just a sympathy God has when He happens to notice someone in need, like I might have for a wounded animal? Did he love me personally enough to investigate how things were going with me, and commune with me and answer my prayers? It seemed my prayers got no higher than the ceiling.

Then one day, I was brought into contact with some that had had faith in God at one time, but had pretty much lost their faith and were not practicing any religious devotion. I contemplated their lives, and how they had nothing to live for, no hope in a future life. All they had to live for was this world, and I realized how dangerously close I was to losing my faith. I cried out in despair, God save me! I don't want to lose my faith. I have been doubting, I have questioned where you are. I don't have answers, but I don't care any more. Just help me not to lose my faith!

God worked a miracle. That very night, and the next day, God sent unexpected answers to that prayer. I didn't have answers to my original prayer of why, but I had answers that God was there, that He did hear my prayers, and loved me. I received abundant evidence that God heard and answered my specific prayer. I praise God. God did not stop with answering that prayer that night and the next day. He knew I needed more long term help to get me back on my feet again, and so He continued answering that prayer for weeks until I was recovered.

It was some time after, that answers came as to why God had allowed certain things to happen. But God had been answering my prayer of some months earlier, when I had been praying that He increase my faith. God wanted me to realize, that we need to trust Him, when we don't have the answers why. When we can't see through the tunnel. That is the very time we need to trust Him.

Jesus asks, concerning the time when He returns, “shall He find faith on the earth?” This is not talking about a set of beliefs, or of religious services. This is talking about a confidence in His love, mercy and involvement in our personal lives. When He comes, will He find faith on the earth in you?

Scripture tells us of the Faith Giants “...Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,” (Heb 11:33) Not only is faith necessary for great accomplishments, but it is necessary for the everyday life, for “the just shall live by faith...” Rom 1:17 In fact, “without faith [it is] impossible to please him” Heb 11:6

So what is faith?

Heb 11:1 Faith is a sure confidence of things which are hoped for, and a certainty of things which are not seen. (W. Tyndale)

This tells us it is confidence of something even if we can't see it. Knowing something is fact even if we don't have the evidence of our senses. The follow verse fills in another aspect to the meaning of fatih.

Heb 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

This shows us not only do we need to know there is a God, and believe in His power. It shows the additional element of believing that He is a rewarder; that He will do what we ask of Him; that He loves us that much that He will answer our needs and our prayers. I might know God has the power to do something, but that is not sufficient. Faith goes beyond that. It is the belief that He will do it.

The Syrophenician Woman
An excellent illustration of faith, is the Syrophenician woman. She was re-buffed time after time. It was even insinuated that she was a dog. A great trial of her faith, but that trial just revealed her faith to the world. She would not be turned away. She trusted in the love and mercy of Christ, that He would not turn her away, but would help her. Jesus, made special note of her faith:

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." Matthew 15:28

If this woman merely believed that Jesus could heal her daughter she would have gone away discouraged, without the precious blessing she desired. She had something more than that. She knew that without Jesus’ help her daughter was hopeless, and she clung to Jesus as her only hope, trusting His mercy and love.

It is this trust in the love and mercy of God that must be combined with the knowledge of the power of God. This is true faith. It is also what the Bible means when it uses the term believe. The Gospel of John never mentions the word faith, but it uses the verb form of the word, believe, 46 times. So whether we are using the noun form faith, or the verb form - believe, it means the same thing.

The Blind Man
Another example of faith I want to point out is a blind man that Jesus healed. Jesus was walking by the way and saw this blind man. He spat on the ground and made clay, and anointed the man's eyes with it. Then He commanded him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. There surely must have been closer places to wash, but the man went to the specific place Jesus had sent him. The man's faith caused him to follow the instruction of Jesus implicitly. If he had not had sufficient faith in Christ to obey Him exactly, he would have lost his chance of healing. His faith caused him to obey.

Summary
Biblical faith is:
1. Knowledge of God's power to act, and
2. Trust in His mercy and love, thus knowing that He will do what is asked of Him, and
3. Perfect trust in His wisdom that leads us to obey Him implicitly.

The next time you are beset by trials and wonder why, remember that is the very time to exercise faith. God has not promised to always answer our questions of why. The next time you read “the just shall live by faith...” or you hear a preacher talk about faith saying “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...”, remember what it means.