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We as Believers can lack strong, righteous faith because we question the why and how of what Elohim does.

      Will there be any faith in this last generation before Yahshua returns? Yahshua Himself questioned whether there would be! Notice: “Nevertheless, “Yahshua asked, when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luk 18:8). What a sobering question! Yahweh clearly states that His people – the just – must live by faith (Rom 1:17), and that without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11:6). But dynamic, living faith is a rare commodity in this world.

How, then, can one have faith?

The truth is that the kind of faith Elohim desires us to have cannot just be “worked up”: For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim” (Eph 2:8). Yahweh must give us the kind of faith that really works – the kind of faith required for salvation. And certainly, we must want to have this faith. Who wouldn’t want to have the faith required to receive Elohim’s wonderful blessings of protection, peace of mind or healing, for example?

Now, exactly how does Elohim give us this faith? Rom 10:17 tells us how we receive true, righteous, faith:

“Then faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of YAHWEH.”

How we receive faith

First, we must believe what Yahweh says – TO Trust Him! “For what does the Scripture say?” “And Abraham believed YAHWEH, and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3). This is a major problem for all of us in this materialistic generation, so steeped in evolution. It can be extremely difficult to really believe Elohim.

All true believers have an earnest desire to live by faith, but there has been such an explosion of materialistic knowledge on every imaginable subject – medicine, psychology, sociology, biology, astronomy, history, geology, and even religion – that we can find ourselves spontaneously asking why and how to almost every statement or promise Yahweh makes in the Bible. And these are faith–killing questions.

Think about it. Why does Elohim let good people suffer and die, while evil people often live well and prosper? How could the earth, including Mt. Everest and the Grand Canyon, have been completely covered by water during the flood in the days of Noah, not even 5,000 years ago – where did all that water come from and where did it go? Where did a fish large enough to swallow Jonah come from, and how did Jonah breathe for three days and three nights while he was in the whale’s belly?

And so, the questions go. Should we just blindly accept and believe, then? Absolutely not! Faith cannot be expressed that way (Ja 2:20). Faith has to be demonstrated by action – faith must be active, dynamic, living. The key is the statement made in Rom 10:17. Faith can come only through the preaching of Yahshua. Faith is spiritual and has nothing to do with the physical or material.

Not our ways or reasons

Let’s examine some examples of the eroding effect that human reasoning can have on faith. Elohim knows that we at this time simply could not understand why some things are allowed to happen, so He doesn’t always tell us why. But we still must learn to believe and trust in Him. He also knows we could not understand how some things are accomplished by His Holy Spirit. Those are spiritual matters and we are yet physical.

So, wondering to excess about why Elohim allowed something or exactly how Elohim did something can cause us to lose faith.

John the Baptist’s imprisonment and his reaction to it is a good example of having to trust and believe without understanding why. Even John the Baptist became confused and upset. His reactions during this severe trial, as they relate to the Messiah, are quite similar to attitudes and reactions of many of us undergoing trials today.

John knew who the Messiah was – John twice called Him “the Lamb of Elohim” (John 1:29, 36). Yet, while in prison, John sent two of his disciples to Yahshua with the question, “Are You the One coming, or should we expect another?” (Luk 7:19). John knew full well who the Messiah was, and that the Messiah had the power to free him from prison. Was John perhaps wondering why the Messiah had not done so?

Did you catch it? John’s basic question – a faith killing question – may well have been why. The Messiah pointed out to John’s disciples the works He had been doing – works of which He knew John was well aware. Then, He concluded with this statement to John’s disciples: “And blessed is he who is not offended in Me” (verse 23).

Yahshua was telling John – and all of us – that Elohim’s people may not always understand everything at a certain time, but that we shouldn’t reject Elohim and the Messiah – we shouldn’t lose faith – because of it. John not only remained in prison, but he was beheaded. Why did the Messiah allow John to die? He could have prevented it, but He did not. The answer is beyond human reasoning. We must also remember that Yahweh is omnipotent and eternal and at His very word the world was created out of NOTHING! Why would we think He owes us anything? He could simply order us to do certain things and leave it at that.

Yet He doesn’t! He gives us His written Word with all His instructions, commandments, and also history for us to know His great and awesome plan for mankind, and for us to know exactly what is required of us for salvation, and also, He gives us a timeline of what He is doing and why. So why do humans believe they need to know more? And if Yahweh gave us more insight what would make us think that would be enough.

Ecc 12:12 And more than these, my son, be warned: The making of many books has no end, and much study is the weariness of the flesh.

Faith is simply trusting in Yahweh, the eternal Creator that He knows more than we do and that we trust in Him that He has given us all the knowledge that we need at any given moment. And He has also given us free will to make our own decisions. And there are things that I do not know. And I will exercise my free will by focusing on the wonderful things He has revealed to me that I do know through His Word, and not the things that I do not need to know.

Another problem that can undermine righteous faith is the suffering of trials. Take the example of Job. Job, like John, was sorely afflicted and tried, and he, too, wondered why. It was young Elihu who gave Job some answers. These answers are available to us today. The problem is, they aren’t the answers many want.

Elihu told Job: “Beware! Do not turn to iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction. Behold, El is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him?” (Job 36:21-22) Indeed, who else but Elohim can teach through affliction? And sometimes the lessons are of necessity severe, even though humans seldom learn them.

Elohim uses all these methods as He works with humanity to bring us to His own state of perfection, to literal sonship in His family. Behold, Elohim works all these trials so that we “may be enlightened with the light of life” – eternal life.

Too often we lose sight of that awesome goal, but Elohim never does! Losing sight of the goal causes us to lose faith.

We live in an evil world

Undergoing severe trials and losing sight of our goal can erode our faith. Remember, too, that we live in an evil world and often have to suffer with this world’s society. Yahshua, speaking to Elohim the Father, said, “I do not pray that You should take them (Yahshua’s followers) out of the world, but that you should keep them from the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). Psalm 34:19 tells us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.”

So, when some tragedy strikes, don’t blame Elohim. Many of our problems occur because we are living in a very evil society. It often seems that people, if they think of Elohim at all, blame Him for every calamity and tragedy of life. Seldom do they thank Him or praise Him for all the good things He does.

Reasoning humanly, those who write insurance policies often refer to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and tornadoes as “acts of Elohim.” Such is humanity’s view of Elohim. But this is how we should think of our Creator: “Do not go astray, my beloved brothers, every act of good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.” (Ja 1:16-17).

Faith is often undermined by our wondering. Why, Elohim, did You allow this to happen to me? John the Baptist probably went to his execution wondering why. But John must have heeded Yahshua’s instructions not to be offended (Luk 7:23), because Yahshua said of him, “Among those born of a woman, no prophet is greater than John the Baptist (verse 28).

Faith does not depend on knowing

Yahshua was saddened when He heard of John’s execution, and wanted to go off by Himself, but a multitude followed Him out into the desert.Yahshua there displayed Elohim’s power by turning five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food for 5,000 men plus women and children. After everyone was fed, 12 baskets of crumbs were collected (Mat 14:13–21). Yahshua’s disciples were certainly impressed with Yahshua’s miracle working power, but they too, had even more to learn regarding real faith.

Consider a major pitfall in exercising faith is demanding to know how faith works. Faith is spiritual, but the results of faith in our lives are often quite physical and material. For example, the miracle of healing (Ja 5:13-15), the preservation of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego in the fiery furnace (Dan 3) and the feeding of the 5,000 are physical consequences of faith. But how such miracles are accomplished is spiritual and inexplicable in physical terms.

How Elohim accomplishes His purposes becomes so important to some people that, when they find out they can’t understand they simply stop believing. Their faith is not based on the immortal power of Yahweh to accomplish His word, but it is only based on their own ability to understand it. Since people think they have found out how life and the physical world evolved, they no longer have to deal with the question of Elohim and their responsibility to Him.

Conditioning your faith on knowing how Elohim’s purposes are accomplished can destroy your faith. This was a major lesson Yahshua’s apostles learned when Peter found himself in a situation where the ‘how’ of a great miracle so plagued him and his physical senses that his faith vanished.

Peter walks on water

Remember the incident of Peter walking on water? It is recorded in Mat 14:22-31. “And immediately Yahshua made His disciples get into a boat and to go before Him to the other side until He should dismiss the crowds” (verse 22). This was just after the miracle of feeding the multitude, and it was still early in the evening (verse 23).

A storm came up and so tossed the boat about that the apostles made little headway (verse 24). Notice that, as fierce as the storm was, the disciples gave no indication of panic as long as they were in the relative security of the boat. When they had spent most of the night fighting the seas, Yahshua appeared to them in the fourth watch (verse 25).

Naturally they were troubled at the sight of Yahshua walking on the water – that is, until Yahshua talked to them. ” But immediately Yahshua spoke to them, saying, Be comforted! I AM! Do not fear” (verse 27). The apostles were frightened at the unnatural sight of Yahshua actually walking on the surface of the water. That was contrary to any experience any of them had had. However, when Yahshua spoke to them they were reassured and comforted. Why?

The unnatural situation of Yahshua walking on water was still there before their eyes. But they were given a physical assurance that did fit with their past experience the familiar voice of Yahshua. Although they could not understand how He managed to walk on the water, they were comforted by His familiar voice.

Peter was so confident that he believed that he could walk on the water, too, if Yahshua would bid him to do so “and answering Him, Peter said, Master, if it is You, command me to come to You on the waters (verse 28). Peter knew that the feat was possible, only if Yahshua the Messiah commanded him to do so. That is an important point in growing in faith “And this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him (1st John 5:14-15).

Peter asked if it were Messiah’s will, and on that assurance, he had the confidence to step up out onto the water. “And He said, Come! And going down from the boat, Peter walked on the waters to go to Yahshua” (Mat 14:29).

Peter actually walked on the water! But now something totally foreign to any experience Peter had ever had happened, and Peter’s faith departed. What was it? “But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Master, save me!” (verse 30).

Had Peter not been aware of the wind before?

He certainly had! He and the other apostles had spent the whole night being tossed about the waves, but they had been in the relative security of the boat. So, what had happened that terrified Peter so much? It was really more a matter of what didn’t happen than what did.

Peter was totally unprepared for how he was held up by faith. Where was the faith that was supposed to react on Peter’s body to give him the reassuring sensation of physical support? On the soles of his feet, where he felt support when he walked on solid surfaces? It wasn’t there – no feeling of support under his arms, as one would feel support if held up by a harness? No. Was there a feeling of support through his hair, as if he were being held up by the hair? No. Peter could nowhere feel the sensation of physical support. Faith was supporting him. Faith is spiritual – feeling is physical.

Peter’s mind, from long experience in the physical environment, knew of no reason why he could be there on the surface of the water. Peter was unprepared for how faith would hold him up on the water. He reacted to his physical senses – and began to sink.

The lesson? One has to grow in and exercise faith. So many times people will initially have the faith to do something, but when that faith is rewarded they falter only because they are not mentally used to the result that the faith has caused. They are so conditioned to not experiencing faith, that when they do exhibit faith, and get the results of that faith, they sabotage those results to bring them back into their physical comfort zone of what they are normally used to seeing as the results in their life without faith.

So, we need to condition ourselves to the results of exhibiting faith, and that only comes from using our faith over and over again.

Peter’s faith in the person of the Messiah was still firm, though, “And immediately Yahshua stretched out His hand and caught him, “Oh you of little-faith, why did you doubt Me?” (verse 31). In the firm grip of Yahshua’s hand Peter made it back into the boat.

There was simply no way that Yahshua could have explained to Peter, in terms that Peter could have understood, how faith would support him. Peter just had to experience it and grow in faith by allowing it in his life over and over again.

You too, must grow in faith

You, too, can have faith! You must have faith, for without faith you cannot please Yahweh. You can’t qualify for Elohim’s kingdom without faith. So, like John the Baptist and Peter, you have to learn to believe Elohim – and without question – through the dynamic faith Elohim will give you as a true believer.

To develop this faith in Elohim, you must know Elohim, and you can know Elohim through Bible study and prayer. And because you express this faith, Elohim promises to prosper you, heal you, protect you and, yes, even try you at times, for your own good to expand and make your faith grow.

When you are sure you have done your part, and you know from Yahweh’s Word what Elohim’s will is, “do not turn to iniquity” (Job 36:21) because Elohim does not answer in the way you expect. Trust Him! Believe Him! Continue doing your part patiently and never lose faith. Simply make it a part of your internal belief system that you trust that anything that happens in your life is ultimately allowed by Yahweh for your good, even if you don’t understand why at the time. You just have to trust that Yahweh knows better, even if He hasn’t shown you yet why.

After all, Elohim reminds us: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says YAHWEH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9).