We are all familiar with the line: Faith is the belief and hope in things that are unseen. It is often seen as a way of forcing ourselves to believe in something without any supporting evidence. If a friend has promised to give us a ride to the airport and they are running late; if traffic is unexpectedly heavy; or a new boss is hired with a reputation for being harsh and difficult to work for, we often say “Have faith, they’ll be here,” or “you’ll still make it on time,” or “don’t worry, he won’t be so bad.” It can seem as though that having faith, for many, means that everything will go the way that we want it to go. As Paul tells us, however, faith is not continuing to hope for things without evidence “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not empty or void, it is not sustained alone by sheer will of our hearts, it is substantial, founded on a firm foundation, and only as strong as that foundation. Faith without evidence will inevitably let us down.
Christian Faith is built on the foundation of the promises of Christ and the promises of God that have been handed down to us from the ancients. The faith of Abraham led him when he did not know where he was going, because he remembered the sound of God’s voice. He remembered the promises God had made to his own forefathers, to Enoch and Noah. Moses had the faith to return to Egypt because he remembered the promises that God had made to Abraham and to Sarah and how many generations and descendants had come from this woman who they had called barren. The Disciples remembered the words of the prophets, and had faith that what Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos and all of their forefathers in Faith promised, God would fulfill.
There are times when what we see disagrees with the promises that we do not see; when our situation appears to go against what we know is our Father’s Will for us. This is the Faith in things that are unseen and the source of our courage, and the courage of our forebears. To rest on the promises of God; to trust in the evidence of the wisdom of the law and the prophets, and the Church. To remember the times when He has fulfilled His promises to us (not just the men and women of old) and find the courage in Him.