Faith is important in the life of a Christian. However, faith is only a concept until it has a foundation…. Faith in __________. In the Christian life, having faith in your horrible politician is no more commendable than having faith in “their” horrible politician. Having faith in your “tout” for your next sporting bet is of no spiritual value.

For the Christian, Faith is a virtue when it is founded on God… having faith in God. Faith looks to the future, and only God is fully trustworthy when it comes to the future

But this is not enough. No, I am not saying that faith in God is not enough to be saved. But to say we have faith in God is not ver informative. We may say that we have faith in God, but it is perfectly reasonable to be asked in response… “Faith in God to do What?” There are answers to this question that are thoroughly wrong… or are nuanced.

#1. “I have faith in God to do whatever I want Him to do.” In this, God is not so much our sovereign Creator. Instead He is our “genie” or “fairy godmother.”

Now I understand how this is tempting. We know from the Bible that “We have not because we ask not.” Jesus said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we can ask a mountain to move and it will. But since, as far as I know, no one has ever been able to get a mountain to move by faith alone, this suggests that either (1) a mustard seed of faith is a LOT of faith, (2) Jesus was using this statement as a hyperbole to point to to something different, or (3) it is important to clarify what the faith is in. Was Jesus saying, “If you have faith that you can control God, even if it is as little as a mustard seed, you can move a mountain?” Is this the point that Jesus was trying to make? I will leave that to others. I would suggest though that sometimes when we say that we have faith in God, we are really saying that we have faith in ourselves… to manipulate God.

#2.  “I have faith in God to do what He promised.” To me this is a better one… but there is a BIG caveat. God does not necessarily promise as much as we often want Him to. Wisdom literature in the Bible is, I believe, in the genre of life lessons and principles, not divinely empowered promises. Also, if you find a promise in the Bible that you happen to like, taking it and applying it to yourself at times may be essentially stealing. Be sure it is a promise that God has given you… before claiming the promise for yourself.

#3.  “I have faith in God’s benevolence and character.” I do think this is the best of the three. I would also say that it is true all of the time. That being said, sometimes we may not like how this works. Sometimes God’s character may lead Him to discipline us, or train/punish us, for our good. Sometimes the Good Shepherd will lead us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death to get us to green pastures and still waters. Sometimes we don’t see God’s benevolence right away. Job, Elijah, David, Paul, Abraham, and so many more have gone through times of suffering. Alternatively, our struggle with faith may devolve into something again focused on ourselves. “I have faith in myself to know the mind of God and how his benevolence should express itself in my life.

It is hard to have faith in God when God does not do what we would prefer for Him to do, does not fulfill promises that we would like to apply to ourselves, or does not demonstrate His benevolence in the way and time that we would prefer.

But it is EXACTLY in those situations where we need to trust God… have faith in God.