What is Faith by Harriet Wearren

Ole Henrik: What is faith?

Harriet: I am thinking about it, but it is hard to explain. We have the verses: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (What a contradiction when you look at it with physical sight). Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Then we have the strong verses in Hebrews 11.

It has always been easy to speak a word of faith for someone’s salvation and know that God will bring it about. In one of our meetings, years ago I really heard the verse Romans 4:17, about Abraham calling the things that are not, as though they are. It pricked me at the time, but I did not really understand it.

Sometime later, I hit a stone wall in my marriage. Things were awful and I felt that God presented me with the verse to do as Abraham and call into being that which did not exist. I stepped out, by faith, saying our marriage was whole and complete. Everything then went the opposite….to hell!  But God showed me to trust him and know that I walked by faith and not by sight!

When things looked particularly hopeless, the verse I hung onto was “Let God be true and every man a liar”. I knew that I might go to my grave saying my marriage was whole, but never seeing anything tangible. You know, Ole, I only told a few people as I ventured out. I felt it was between God and me and I did not take that lightly. I must say, as I spoke these words over and over, and knew that God was fully able to do this but I just had to trust Him, however it went.

The up and down of all of it really killed me, and I thought, though you slay me, yet will I trust you, I felt I had nothing else. Something happened in me and made me solid in what I had entrusted to God, long before I saw any evidence that the marriage would survive. It made me strong, and really showed me that appearances will lie to me, but God is true and is in charge.