Daily Devotional | Faith in What Is Unseen

Faith is a kind of vision. But unlike ordinary sight, faith concentrates our attention on things we cannot see. Noah and Abraham are good examples. God commanded Noah to prepare for a disaster unlike anything humanity had ever seen before (Gen. 6:13–22). Jesus tells us what things were like when Noah was building the ark. People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. They carried out their lives oblivious to what was about to befall them. All the while, Noah kept building a refuge that would have saved their lives had they believed his warning (2 Peter 2:5). Peter calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness” whose faith was in such sharp contrast to the unbelief of his generation that he served as a condemnation against them. “[Noah] condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith” (Heb. 11:7).

When Abraham was called to leave his family and home, he did not have a travel brochure, itinerary, or description. There was only God’s promise to show him the location that he would later receive as an inheritance (v. 8, Gen. 12:1). Abraham and his family lived like those who are homeless, even when they arrived at the place God had promised to give him (vv. 9–10). He believed God would enable Sarah to have children, even when the physical evidence indicated such a thing was impossible (vv. 11–12).

The kind of faith that pleases God welcomes His promises “from a distance” (v. 13). It is the faith of those who love Jesus, even though they have not seen Him. Those who possess such a faith receive as its result the salvation of their souls (1 Peter 1:8–9).