Reflections from Pastor Marc

Frederick Buechner once wondered about what sort of experience of God one could have that would leave no room for doubt: “Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt?  If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.”

In Hebrews 11, faith is described as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see.” There is little certainty in that -- hope relates to something not yet realized and what we do not see... well, we do not see. This is not certainty of the kind which modern people look for: the kind found only in what can be seen, touched, tasted. But Abraham’s faith led him to set out without that kind of certainty for only-God-knew-where. By faith he settled in a foreign land; by faith he believed that his descendants would number as the stars.

Abraham did not see all the things God promised, neither a settled Promised Land nor the countless descendants. But he believed and it was commended to him as righteousness, as it was to all the other men and women of faith.

We often see the things of God from a distance, whether back in history or in a promised but as-yet unfulfilled future. Faith is what hangs on to those things -- past events and future promises -- and moves forward in obedience, even if in the moment things are not clear or certain.