What is Faith?

As a young adult, or whenever it was that I actually started listening to sermons, I would hear again and again, "We must have faith."  And then I would begin to wonder, "How do you GET faith?"  Do you somehow brace yourself up and say, "I believe in God!"?  I remember thinking one day, "I just wish someone would tell us how to GET faith!"

At that time of my life, I knew ABOUT God, from attending church all my life, but I had not yet experienced God in person.  Scripture says, "Draw close to God, and He will draw close to you."  And that process is a life-long journey.  Although I had begun the journey at an early age, I had not yet begun to read Scripture, so there was no way to understand or to formulate my understanding about the journey.  It was such a nebulous and undefined experience that I doubted the little I did know on an experiential basis.

I think one glimpse into the substance of faith may be gleaned from the 7th chapter of Isaiah.  In this chapter, Ahaz, the king of Judah, was shaking in his boots.  There was a national crisis under his reign:  the king of Aram and the king of Israel were both waging war against the southern kingdom under Ahaz, and "...the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind."  Those of us who experienced the horror of 9/11 can relate to the feeling.

The prophet Isaiah was sent to Ahaz to say, "Be careful, keep calm, and don't be afraid....it will not take place; it will not happen....if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."  In fact, Isaiah tells Ahaz to ask for a sign that his words are true.  Ahaz refuses to ask; he will not engage at all with the word of the Lord through Isaiah; he will not "draw close to God."  Isaiah himself gives the sign:  The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (God with us)...and by the time the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste."

If we do not know God's "take" on our situation, we cannot have faith.  Faith is simply our assent to what God has said through His prophets, and especially through His very Son.  Jesus had to come as the Incarnate Word of the Lord, that we might know the truth of the things we believe, in the words of St. Luke.  In other words, if we do not know what God has said, we cannot have faith.  We wonder what He is thinking; we are not sure that we are on the right path.  Where is our confidence?

In chapter 8 of Isaiah, the prophet speaks again:

When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God?  Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?  To the law and to the testimony!  If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.  Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

 



Then comes the beautiful chapter 9, where Isaiah gives hope to the world -- the Light that shines in the darkness and shatters the yoke of the oppressed, the One who restores the peace of Jerusalem.

Our faith rests entirely on knowing what God has said, what He has promised to us, and then "drawing close" to the Word, believing that He cannot deceive or be deceived.  If we do not know what He has said, we cannot have faith that He will do it.  When Jesus says, "I am the Light of the world," we have two choices:  we can walk away, saying, "that's poetic speech, but He does not really mean that."  Or we can assent to Him:  "You are the Light of the World; shine in my heart to dispel the darkness therein.  I embrace the Light that You are; I give myself to the Light; I no longer wish to walk in the dark." 

That is the meaning of "faith"  -- to hear what God has said, and to acknowledge its truth for myself and for the world at large.  If we cannot understand what God has said, that is the role of the Holy Spirit -- to teach and to enlighten our understanding.  But we must first "draw close" to Him in order that He is able to open our minds and hearts to comprehend the Word of the Lord to us.

Again and again, God continues to send His word into our lives.  We only need pray that our eyes, our ears, and our hearts are opened to see, hear, and embrace the Word that has the power to set us free.  Once we do see, hear, and embrace the Word, we have the kind of faith that moves mountains.