Day Thirty-six

“He persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27)

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:24–27

Today we will continue yesterday’s theme of faith. How we define and exercise faith makes all the difference in our lives. Believers in Christ must place their faith in one of two factors: either what God does or who God is.

If we place our faith in what God is doing, we should brace ourselves for a lifelong roller-coaster ride. Our faith will be high and mighty one day and free-falling the next because it is based on the apparent activity of God in our circumstances. Remember, God warns us in Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.” If we define faith based on our ability to discern what God is doing, we are bound for a ride on the Sky Screamer.

In many of life’s circumstances, we can’t begin to understand what God is doing. When He chooses to take a beloved servant home to heaven rather than healing him on earth, our faith disintegrates because it’s based on what God appears to be doing.

Remember that most of what God does is invisible—totally outside our realm of observation or understanding. We cannot base our faith on what He appears to be doing or how dramatically He answers our prayers—because faith founded on God’s apparent actions is not faith at all. Attempting to exercise our faith according to what we can see cancels out that very faith.

Remember Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is being . . . certain of what we do not see.” Our faith must rest on God’s identity, not His activity.

Hebrews 11:6 highlights a vital element in genuine faith—believing God exists and earnestly seeking HIM. In our most difficult losses, victory does not result from seeking God’s answers or His activity. Many answers will never come; much of His activity will never be seen. Victorious faith walks evolve from seeking Him.

In Hebrews 11:27 we read that Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible”—not because he saw the burning bush. He gazed straight into the face of the invisible God. He built his faith on Who God is, not what God had done.

God performed unparalleled miracles in Moses’ life, yet still His servant was more preoccupied with knowing God than seeing His activity. You see, seeking a God we cannot “see” is real, live faith. It’s also our ticket off the roller coaster.

God’s activity may appear to change, but Who He is will never change. Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). When you don’t know what God is doing, you can find stability in Who He is. The more you know about Him, the more you’ll be able to hang on when life feels as if it’s in the derailment mode.

Climb off the roller coaster. Life offers so many opportunities to enjoy what God is doing—but we must rely on Who God is.