Exercise Faith, & You Won't Believe Your Eyes!

The Holy Spirit tells us, in Hebrews 11:27, that “by faith, [Moses] … endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” Now how do you see Someone Who is invisible?

The preceding verses imply that Moses could have had “pleasures” and “treasures” – those things which appeal to the lust of the eyes and flesh – but instead he chose affliction and reproach. He chose rather to exercise faith in Someone Whom he could not see Who promised to lead him to a land he had not seen.

Could Abraham not see his wrinkled, gray-haired wife? Did Moses not understand the strength of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots? Did Joshua not see that big wall surrounding Jericho? Didn’t David hear King Saul say that that 9.5-foot tall giant out there, who’s carrying over 140 pounds of armor and weapons, has been “a man of war from his youth” (I Samuel 17:33)? Didn’t the 3 Hebrew boys realize that King Nebuchadnezzar could demand the fire be made much hotter? Did Daniel not know how big and hungry the lions were? Of course, they saw the challenge before them. But they also saw “Him Who is invisible,” with His mighty hand and outstretched arm (Deut. 26:8) poised to crush any who would dare to touch His anointed.

Yet the enemy, from the beginning, tempts us to trust our physical eyes. He wants us to put our faith in that which we can observe, handle, and experience. He showed Eve “that the tree [of the knowledge of good and evil] was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). He showed Christ the stones which could “be made bread” and then showed “Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” (Matthew 4:3, 8). Then Satan shows us the harlot (as mentioned in Revelation). – Our eyes see the “gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, … and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;” our skin feels the “fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet;” our noses smell the “cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense;” our tongues taste the “wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep;” and our ears hear “the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, … and the sound of a millstone … and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride ….” – He tempts us through all of our senses toward “the fruits that [our] soul[s] lusted after …, and all things which were dainty and goodly …” (Revelation 18:12-14, 22-23).

But “faith is … the evidence of things not seen,” without which “it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:1, 6). Therefore, exercise faith in God and His Word, and you will not believe your eyes!