The Substance of Faith

Has God ever called you to do something uncomfortable or uncertain? Maybe it was something like taking on a different job, serving in a new ministry, sharing your faith with someone you know, or giving up something that is coming between you and the Lord. In our spiritual walk, God regularly calls us to do things that feel hard, unsure, or impossible. In these moments, we are asked to exercise faith. Between what we know and what God has promised lies a space where we must decide what we believe.

The Bible describes faith in Hebrews 11:1 as the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It requires us to put our hope in the Lord and not in our circumstances or feelings. Faith is proof that we believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He has said He will do. The Bible is full of examples of people who chose faith in difficult situations, but there are also cases of those who did not. These stories show us how much is at stake when the Lord is asking us to step out and trust Him.

 In Genesis 19, Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in a place full of sin and wickedness called Sodom. The Lord sent angels to him who commanded, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” (Genesis 19:15). God called Lot and his family to leave their home and everything they knew. He promised that they would be spared if they obeyed Him.

Despite the Lord’s commandment, Lot “lingered” (Genesis 19:16), showing his lack of faith in God. The angels took Lot and his family out of the city anyway, telling them to escape and not look back.  God began to rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom, but Lot’s wife turned around to see the destruction behind her—disobeying the commandment of the Lord. Immediately, she turned into a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:16 tells us that the Lord was being merciful to Lot and his family. He knew the destruction that was coming to Sodom and hoped to spare them. However, Lot and his wife showed their hesitation to trust the Lord by delaying their escape. Then Lot’s wife specifically disobeyed God by looking back on the city. You might think—wow, that is a harsh punishment! She was forced to leave her home and everything she knew, and her city was being destroyed by fire raining from the sky.

But the actions of Lot’s wife just provided evidence of what was already happening in her heart. She longed for the city that God had told her to leave. She was unfazed by the sin that remained there. She directly disobeyed the word of the Lord. She didn’t believe that what God had ahead of her was better than what she was leaving behind.

 God is serious about faith. He is serious about obedience. Many times, we think to ourselves that faith is optional—like if we trust God to do something He has called us to do, we might see God work, and if we don’t, things will stay like they are now. But the reality is that we can’t stay static with God. We are always moving toward Him or away from Him. When we disobey Him by refusing to do what He has said, there are always consequences. We may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we will definitely create walls between ourselves and the Lord that will prevent His further work in our lives.

When was the last time that you exercised faith? Faith is like a muscle—it builds when we use it. Every time you put your faith in the Lord and see Him come through despite uncertainty, your ability to rely on God alone will grow. While we may not always understand what God is doing, we can always trust His heart for our future. Faith helps us know with certainty that what God has ahead of us is for our good and His glory, no matter how hard it may be.