Blind faith

Faith is so crucial for the experience of our salvation, but there is so much confusion about it. First of all we can describe two kinds of valid faith. One faith is what we must have 'in' God that gives us a relationship with Him. This faith believes in God as our Father and the salvation He gives us through the death of Jesus, the Son (He.11:6). Another form of faith is what we have in relation to what we expect from God. After we have prayed for something, sometimes God assures us He is going to give it (v.1). We can say we have faith that we will receive something from God only if He has told us (Ro.10:17). But sometimes we don't know if God is going to answer that prayer. Let us look at this more.

If God has promised us something in His word, we can be sure He will do it, even if we don't see it happen immediately. For example, He has promised that sin will not rule over us (Ro.6:14). Of course, we have to fulfil certain conditions, but we can believe God will do this, even if we see only defeat at the moment, because God has promised it. But many times we ask for something in prayer for which there is no promise from God. Then how can we have an assurance of faith that it will happen?

People who misunderstand faith think that if they think strongly enough that God is going to do something, what they have prayed for will happen. But this is blind faith, which is unreasonable. Then there are others who have received a supernatural assurance from God that what they have prayed for will happen. That faith is a gift from God for that situation. Then there are still others who have prayed, but they have not received any assurance from God about it. But their faith in God enables them to leave the matter in God's hands. This faith in God is true, even though they have no assurance about their prayer.

Those who hold on to blind faith are afraid to examine if their faith is reasonable because they think they might lose whatever faith they have. But this finally leads them to be shocked and disappointed when what they hoped for did not happen. They could have avoided that if they had considered the possibility that their 'faith' does not actually have an assurance. They could have still 'hoped' that God would do what they have asked for, and left things in His hands.

The three friends of Daniel had a reasonable faith. They knew that God was capable of delivering them out of the fire. That was one level of faith. But they did not know for sure if He would actually deliver them. But they committed the decision to God (Da.3:17,18).

They did not try to convince themselves that God would deliver them from the fire, and struggle to keep up a blind faith. They looked at actual possibilities honestly and boldly, without giving up their confidence in God.

When we face situations in life where we do not know how things will turn out, let us avoid trying to convince ourselves that God will do what we want, but let us continue to trust God.