Seeing by Faith

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading, titled Seeing by Faith, was written by Katerra Patton. During my morning walk, the sun hit the waters of Lake Michigan at a perfect angle to produce a stunning view. I asked my friend to stop and wait for me as I positioned my camera to take a pic. Because of the position of the sun, I couldn't see the image on my phone's screen before I snapped the shot. But having done this before, I sensed it would be a great picture.

I told my friend, we can't see it now, but pictures like this always come out good. Walking by faith through this life is often like taking that picture. You can't always see the details on the screen, but that doesn't mean the stunning picture isn't there. You don't always see God working, but you can trust that He's there. As the writer of Hebrews penned, faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. By faith, we place our confidence and assurance in God, especially when we can't see or understand what He's doing. With faith, not seeing doesn't prevent us from taking the shot. It just might make us pray more and seek God's direction. We can also rely on knowing what's happened in the past as others have walked by faith, as well as through our own stories. What God has done before, He can do again.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Hebrews chapter 11 verses 1 through 8. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for all the ways You've provided for us in the past. Help us to walk by faith, even when we can't see all Your doing. Thank You, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Toni Collier, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.