All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.
The Primer
Every honest question about God begins at the same door:
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” — Hebrews 11:6
The verse asks for belief on two counts. The first is that He is: that God exists. The second is that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him: that He responds, and that seeking Him is never wasted.
The first count is a conclusion. The second is a relationship. No one diligently seeks someone they merely believe exists. We seek the One we trust will answer.
Faith and Belief: One Word
In English, “faith” and “believe” look like two different things. In the Greek New Testament they are one word family: pistis (faith, the noun) and pisteuō (believe, the verb). English simply has no verb “to faith,” so translators borrowed “believe.” The King James Version even renders pistis as “belief” in 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “belief of the truth.”
So faith is not a step that comes before or after belief. Faith is what we have; believing is what we do with it. The real distinction in Scripture is not between faith and belief, but between depths of the same thing:
- Believing that — agreeing something is true. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). Real, but not enough.
- Believing in — resting your whole weight on Him. “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
- Faithfulness — pistis can also mean fidelity. The “faith” in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) is faithfulness: belief that has become a way of life.
God Is Clearly Seen
God is not hidden from honest eyes.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” — Romans 1:20
Creation answers the first count of Hebrews 11:6: that He is. But creation shows His power, not the fullness of His heart. To know His character, and to trust Him personally, we need His Word:
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” — Romans 10:14
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” — Romans 10:17
And in Jesus Christ, God is fully revealed: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Prophecy plays a special part in this. Jesus told His disciples, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29). Fulfilled prophecy is God speaking ahead of time so that, when it happens, we can recognize Him.
Notice who heard these words. Jesus was not speaking to skeptics, or to people who did not yet think they believed. He was speaking to the eleven, in the upper room on the night before the cross: men who had already left everything to follow Him. Even those who already believed needed fulfilled prophecy to carry their belief through what was coming. Prophecy does not only open the door for the seeker; it deepens and steadies the faith of those already walking with Him.
The Book Report and the Reader
There are two ways to read a book.
The book report reader stays outside the story. He mines it for themes, gathers what he can summarize and defend, and is finished once he has enough to write about. The book never touches him.
The reader who reads for joy steps inside. He lets the story work on him and returns to it. Strangely, he usually understands it better than the report writer, because he has actually been where the story goes.
Many people approach God like a book report. They are sincere, often intelligent, and they ask real questions. But they keep God at arm’s length, as a subject to evaluate rather than a Person to meet. Scripture says that posture does not get through:
“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” — 1 Corinthians 1:21
“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” — Matthew 11:25
This is not a rejection of the mind. Jesus commands us to love God “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). In Scripture, the heart is not feelings as opposed to thinking; it is the whole inner person: mind, will, and affections together. The problem is not using the mind. The problem is searching with the mind alone, while holding back the will.
The promise is to the whole-hearted seeker:
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” — Jeremiah 29:13
The Bible’s own picture of the reader for joy:
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” — Psalm 1:2
“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” — Psalm 119:103
On the road to Emmaus, two disciples knew the facts about Jesus but did not understand them. He called them “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25). Then He opened the prophecies to them, and afterward they said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). That is the difference between the report and the reading.
The Path of Believing
Scripture traces a path, not a single moment:
- Hear. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
- Believe that He is, and that He rewards. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
- Trust. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
- Obey, and understand. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17)
- Know Him more. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them… I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21)
- Be entrusted with more. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
Notice step four. Understanding does not come first so that we can then decide whether to obey. The willingness to do His will is what opens understanding. “I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts” (Psalm 119:100). It is not a straight line but a growing spiral: hear, understand enough, obey, understand more, obey further.
The day of Pentecost shows the whole path in a single scene. The crowd heard Peter preach Christ from the prophets. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Belief did not stop at agreement; it asked what to do. And Peter answered:
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” — Acts 2:38
Like a Child, Yet More
God uses the trust of a child in a parent as the picture of believing Him:
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 18:3
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” — Matthew 7:11
But the picture is a “how much more.” Human parents fail; God does not. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up” (Psalm 27:10). And growing up with parents means moving toward independence, while growing in God means moving toward deeper dependence: “for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Maturity in God does not outgrow childlike trust. It returns to it.
Better Felt Than Told
Words can point the way, but the thing itself is deeper than words.
“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” — 1 Peter 1:8
Scripture speaks of the love of Christ, “which passeth knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), and the peace of God, “which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). If you cannot put into words what God is doing in you, you are in good company. That it is deeper than words is part of how you know it is real.
The invitation is not to study God from a distance, but to taste:
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” — Psalm 34:8
For the One Still Searching
If you are honestly searching, and sensing more than you can explain, there is a prayer for exactly where you are:
“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” — Mark 9:24
A few ways to move from the report to the reading:
- Pray honestly, even with doubts. God is not offended by an honest question.
- Read a Gospel asking not only “Is this true?” but “If this is true, what would it ask of me?”
- Act on what you already see, and watch what follows.
From the time I was seven until I was twenty-two, I carried a little Gideons New Testament and Psalms with me, and never read it. I had heard the Bible was full of contradictions.
One night I finally made up my mind to just read it like a comic book. I didn’t care whether it was true. I just wanted to see what I could get out of it.
That night God started me on a path of discovery. I went the wrong direction at first, into the hippie world, but He did not let go of me.
I didn’t have to settle whether it was true before I opened it. I only had to stop holding it at arm’s length and read.
— Reider Waage
And take heart: the restlessness that will not let you put the question down may not be God’s absence. It may be His pursuit. He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). He is “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9).
He does not quit.
In short: hear, believe, trust, obey, know, and be entrusted with more. And taste for yourself.