Faith Needs Hope's Promise

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

In this section we want to discuss the biblical truth that faith needs hope. So what does that statement mean? It means that as we hope in the promises of God to be made manifest in our lives, we attach our faith to those promises which we are hoping for. The above quoted passage of scripture tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. In other words faith cannot work without hope, and hope without faith won’t get the job done. How many times had you heard this statement, “lets’ just hope and pray”? To pray in hope alone will not receive from God, because the scripture teaches us that whatever we ask for in prayer “believing” we will receive, it does not say whatever we ask in prayer “hoping” we will receive (Matthew 21:22). Hope always looks to the future and faith is always in the present. Hope says I am eagerly waiting for the promise of God to be manifested in my life. Faith says I have already received that promise. And so when faith and hope work together as they should, hope says I am looking forward to seeing the manifestation of God’s promise in my life, while faith assures me that the promise is already mine. Because hope always looks to the future; by definition hope cannot be seen, and the scripture confirms that truth to us (Romans 8:24-25). And so just as hope cannot be seen, so it is that faith can be seen, which is why the apostle Paul teaches us in the above passage that “faith is the evidence of things not seen”.

Romans 4:18 “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that Abraham believed God in hope. The context of the passage is that God had promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. The scripture actually says that contrary to hope, in hope, Abraham believed God. When the scripture says that Abraham believed God “contrary to hope”, the hope that it is referring to is natural hope based on human experience. Natural human hope does not look to the supernatural; it always looks to that which experience dictates can take place in the natural. In the natural, Abraham’s situation was hopeless; for at the time that God made this promise to Abraham he was eighty-six years old and Sarah his wife was seventy-six and had been barren her whole life. And so in the natural there was no hope for Abraham and Sarah to have a child, and that is why the scripture says that “contrary to hope”, Abraham believed God. But the scripture goes on to say that Abraham believed God “in hope”. So what hope does the scripture refer to when it says that Abraham believed God “in hope”? The hope that Abraham had when he believed God was his hope in the supernatural ability of the Almighty God. In the natural Abraham’s situation was hopeless, but in the supernatural Abraham’s situation was full of hope, because God Himself had made the promise to him that he and Sarah would have a son. In the same manner, because our hope is in the supernatural ability of the Almighty God our hope is based on the promises of God which are given to us. In other words when God promises us something, it means that at some point in the future we can expect to have the manifestation of that promise in our lives, if we exercise our faith in His promise. Abraham waited fourteen years for the manifestation of God’s promise of his son Isaac being born. And so while we wait for the manifestation of God’s promise we look forward in hope to seeing His promise coming to pass in our lives.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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