Sure of the Unseen

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 244, Sure of the Unseen.

Listen carefully to these words:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11, verse 1.

Let that settle for a moment.

The writer of Hebrews does not start with a feeling. He does not start with an emotion that rises and falls depending on what your day looks like. He starts with a word that is solid as bedrock: assurance. Faith, he says, is the assurance of things hoped for. Not a shot in the dark. Not wishful thinking that crumbles when the answer is slow in coming. A foundation. A ground that does not shift.

And that changes everything.

Because when you are waiting on something that has not arrived yet — a word from God, a healing, a reconciliation, a promise that feels like it has been a long time coming — the temptation is to stare into the silence and decide that nothing is happening. But biblical faith does not work that way. The hope Hebrews is talking about is not anchored in what you can see or feel in this moment. It is anchored in the character of a God who has promised and has never, not once, failed.

Whatever you are hoping for today is already held by that character.

And then the text goes even deeper: faith is the conviction of things not seen. Think about that word — conviction. Not the absence of evidence. Faith itself is the evidence. Seeing is not where you begin — trusting is. And the greatest guarantee of everything that has not yet appeared, the most powerful proof that God keeps His word, is an empty tomb outside Jerusalem. The resurrection of Christ is not just a beautiful doctrine — it is the bedrock beneath every single thing you are believing God for. He walked out of that grave. And because He did, you can trust Him with everything that is still in the dark.

Hebrews 11 is filled with men and women who understood this. Abel. Enoch. Abraham. Sarah. Not one of them arrived at the full fulfillment of what they trusted God for. They died still hoping. And yet — hear this — God called them faithful. Faith does not need clear skies to keep walking. It walks on the cloudy day, on the quiet day, on the day when you feel absolutely nothing, and it says anyway: I trust You.

Every name in that great hall of faith points forward to one person. Jesus — the founder and perfecter of faith. We are not trusting an idea. We are not trusting our own resolve, because our resolve runs out. We are trusting Him, the one who is the beginning and the end of everything.

And so today the call is concrete and it is simple.

Before breakfast, stop. Choose one promise from God — one you have not yet seen fulfilled. Write it down on a piece of paper. Your handwriting, your hand. And then say it out loud, so your own ears hear it: "I trust You, Lord, even without seeing." This is not performance. This is a declaration of faith. This is your heart lining itself up with the certainty of a God who does not fail.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.