Many people today understand faith as a blind act of the will regardless of the evidence. But the Bible has a very different understanding of faith. Biblical faith is a trust in God because He has shown Himself to be trustworthy and dependable.

Understood this way, we see that faith in God is not unlike the faith we put in other people. The more evidence we did that someone is truly kind, honest, and dependable, the more likely we are to trust him or her. I did not put my “faith” in my wife when I first met her. Rather, I spend time getting to know her, learning about her passions in life, and examining her character. After spending time with her I was convinced that she was (and still is!) a trustworthy person who I want to be with for the rest of my life.

The same is true with faith in God. He wants us to get to know Him so we can see that He is trustworthy. In fact, God expects faith from us because He’s given us good evidence of His dependable character, as when He showered Egypt with miracles before inviting Israel to follow Him into the wilderness (Ex 7-14). Rather than asking Israel for blind allegiance, God performed miracles through Moses so they could have a reasonable faith in Him. Miracles were done so the people would believe in God and His servant Moses (Ex 14:31)

Faith isn’t something we exercise just once. We need faith daily. It is a mistake to trust God for the “big” things of heaven (like salvation) but not the “little” things on earth (like daily guidance). God invites us to trust Him moment by moment for all of our concerns. He is a well-seasoned guide who never leads us astray. We can follow God’s Son Jesus because He is the smartest, most powerful person around, and He loves us beyond all measure.