Faith and Believing

We are still in our faith series, friends, and today we'll be looking at another aspect of the faith life. I have stated previously in my other messages that faith and hope go together like biscuits and gravy, and faith and obedience are inseparable as water is to life. And today in this faith message I'll make the statement that faith and believing go together like peanut butter and jelly, and to make a sandwich of substance that you can live on.

In Hebrews 11 1 it states, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And that's the title of my message today, friends, faith and believing. And my text can be found in the book of Psalms.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in Psalm 27. And in this little Psalm of David, we see a clear picture of faith, a faith that is activated by believing.

King David is reflective. He's looking back on his life in this Psalm, and he is testifying to the goodness of God and answering prayer. Look at verse 13.

I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. It was David's faith in God that got him through, got him through his trial, and it was his confidence in the word of God that allowed him to believe that God would both hear his desperate prayers and deliver him from his dire circumstances. He makes a startling statement.

He says, I had fainted. In other words, his troubles were so numerous, so heavy, and seemingly humanly impossible to extricate himself from, that if he had no faith, he never had made it. It was his faith that got him through.

In Hebrews 11.27, it says of Moses, By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, seeing him who is invisible. Listen, friends, faith is believing to see what is not yet seen. David says, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, meaning while he was alive and still in this world, he would see God move and answer his prayer and bring deliverance.

We have faith in God, but do we really believe he will move and answer our prayers? The centurion believed the servant would be healed as he took Christ at his word, and the believing Jews marched about the walls of Jericho, fully believing they would come crumbling down. Faith and believing go hand in hand, friends. Notice David says that he believed to see the goodness of the Lord.

This intimates that he was seeking God in his trials and looking to him. This is stated in verse 8 of our psalm, When thou saidest, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? He expected to see God's goodness and answer the prayer because his eyes were on him. In another psalm we read, Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

There is an expectation attending his looking as if he was looking for a loved one to return home from a long journey any minute. How can I see his goodness if I'm not seeking his face? Faith combined with believing activates a searching for God. How can I see your goodness, Lord, if my eyes aren't on you? Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, and he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

From this we see, friends, that faith is seeking and believing. It's not being self-reliant. It's an urgent seeking of God in desperation and prayer.

Thy face, Lord, will I seek? It's an expectant searching of God. I expect to see him move on my behalf and answer the prayer because God's word is true, and he is true to his holy word. And it's a continual seeking of his face, his will, his guidance, his enabling, his empowerment, his anointing, his favor, his presence.

Listen, friends, if we stay in his presence, we shall see his goodness. But a lazy faith just looks or glances once in a while to see if anyone is coming. But a watchman in a tower earnestly looks.

He is focused. There must be an earnest expectation in prayer as well as an urgency and a desperation in prayer in believing we will see God answer our prayers. If you do all these things, you'll find that his goodness will come quite suddenly and unexpectedly, and there will be deliverance.

This is what David learned, and this is what he's relating that to us in this psalm. There's a story about D.O. Moody I like while he was in England. D.O. Moody was staring out the window of his hotel room watching a downpour of rain, and his assistant stood near him and commented, shaking his head, with that weather, we won't have many at the meeting this evening.

D.O. Moody looked at him and thundered, we will if we believe, and they went to the meeting, and it was so crowded they had to turn people away despite the weather. Moody had a believing faith, and I believe, friends, God is looking for that kind of faith in each of us, to trust him enough to step out on faith and prayer, believing to see his goodness manifested in our lives. A few years ago, my wife tragically died, leaving me to raise our teenage daughter on my own.

I did not know which way to turn as I walked in deep grief for many, many months. I had promised some God's word found in our little psalm today. I kept clinging to the words of David.

I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And each day was a fog I had only that verse to cling to and my faith in God to hang on to. And I was in an office building one day, walking down the hall, under the weight of my troubles, and I suddenly grew faint.

I had to lean against the wall to even stand up. I looked up and prayed and trusted God to get me through. God has been faithful as I have seen his goodness time and time again through this wilderness that I'm still in.

But listen, friends, faith has to have reality. We must believe that God is able. Jesus said all things are possible to him that believes.

The evidence of David's faith was that he was looking and believing, praying and seeking, seeking God and trusting him. His confidence was in his God. It was a unshakeable confidence in God.

He believed he would see God be true to his word of faith and believe and go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. It is substance. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We must ask ourselves, friends, are we diligently seeking God in earnest, desperate prayer? Really believe in him to be true to his word? Or is our unbelief or laziness hindering our prayers? Well, let us seek him by faith and believe to see his goodness in the land of the living. Let us pray.