“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” Hebrews 11:1

Eyes of Faith

(Names have been changed to protect the guilty!)

I had watched Joe grow up and become a man. Somewhere between the compliant child I had known and the young man with a mind of his own, Joe had set his faith on the back burner. I had talked to him. I had most certainly prayed for him. I counseled, I pleaded and I nagged. Yet I saw him slipping farther and farther away from me and from his faith.

On a dark summer’s night in the back yard I fell to my knees and buried my face in the lawn as I cried out to God. I smelled the dirt as the grass was watered by my tears. I had come to the end of myself and had no other place to go but to my Father who had entrusted this child to me. With a broken heart I sensed the Lord telling me to let him go, to give him up, and to commend him to God Himself. Like Abraham, I laid my Isaac on the altar. I was told to simply love him and to faithfully pray for him. No more lectures, no more unwanted advice or unsought assistance. Oddly, although still saddened, I arose from my knees with a lighter heart.

Some years later I found myself at Joe’s home waiting for his return from work. I was prompted to encircle the home seven times praying for Joe’s renewal in the Lord. On the surface this seemed a silly thing to do, but remembering Joshua’s story of old, I thought if it worked for him, it can work for me. I believed it was of the Lord. I circled that little home time and time again. Why? Faith.

Faith acts as though those things hoped for, those things yet unseen, are reality. Faith gives hope substance. Faith proves there is more than we see and more than we know. Our faith is in the word of God who says it is so even if not yet realized.

Before the foundation of the world, nothing we know now existed and yet creation was spoken into being – out of the unseen. There is something infinitely bigger behind what we actually see with our eyes. Faith is not blind. Faith sees a higher vision. Faith has a loftier view. Faith sees eternity. Faith hopes in God.

I tell this story from hindsight. Today I see what I only hoped for “back in the day.” Today Joe sits beside me every Sunday morning in church, raising his hands in worship, and bowing his head in prayer. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” Yes and amen!

Father, You are so much more than our tiny minds can grasp. Give us eyes of faith to see Your heart’s desire come to pass in our lives. Unto Your glory, Amen.