When Faith Travels Ahead of Sight

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” — 2 Corinthians 5:7

There is a common phrase that goes, ‘Seeing is believing.’ That is how the world has framed our thinking and beliefs. That, unless we see, we won’t believe. However, Jesus teaches us that, ‘Believing is seeing.’ That is, you only need to believe even when you don’t see anything happening.

In the Gospel of John, chapter four, we are introduced to a royal official whose son was critically ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was in Galilee, he made the journey to find Jesus to come and heal his son. When he found Jesus, he begged him to heal his son, and Jesus replied, saying, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.’ But when he asked again, Jesus replied, ‘Go, your son will live.’

The scriptures say that, ‘The man took Jesus at his word and departed.’ If you and I were in the man’s shoes and we chose to act according to the principle of ‘seeing is believing,’ we would miss the miracle. The man made a day’s journey on foot from Capernaum to Cana, where Jesus was, hoping and trusting that Jesus would accompany him back to heal his son.

The reply that he got from Jesus was, ‘Go, your son will live.’ Now this is the point where most people would give up when they choose not to believe in Jesus. I can imagine the man probably with questions on his mind like: ‘He hasn’t even seen my son, how could He say that he will live?’, ‘I came all the way from home and now He’s telling me to go back?’

The best thing that the man did was to trust that what Jesus had said was true. There are things which are evident when ‘The man took Jesus at his word and departed.’

Belief.

The man believed in what Jesus said. He took Jesus' words as facts and as complete truth. Jesus told him, ‘Your son will live,’ and he believed it. There are things that God has spoken to us in truth, but rather than believing in His words, we approach them with doubt. God speaks to us through His word, and in John 3:16 it reads, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ God loves you. He gave His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross on your behalf and mine so that we couldn’t face hell. All you need to do is believe in Jesus. The question is, do you believe in Jesus?

Trust.

To trust someone means to put all of your confidence in their sincerity and honesty. In the scripture, the man chose to completely put his trust and confidence in Jesus. He didn’t have to look for any signs or evidence to show that his son was healed; he simply trusted in Jesus’ honesty. John 14:6, ‘I am the truth.’ In Jesus, there’s no deceit but only the truth, and that is what the man saw. Sincerity.

Action.

You only act when you believe that whatever has been said will be done. When the man heard what Jesus said, he believed in Jesus’ words, trusted in Him and acted upon Jesus’ words by making his way back home. James 2:26 says, ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’ For faith to work, it needs action, and that action requires something to fuel it, and that’s trust, and trust cannot exist without first believing.

And that is what the royal official did in John 4:50. He first believed in Jesus, trusted in Jesus’ words and acted upon them. As he was heading home while on the way, his servants met him and shared the good news with him that his son was well. When he asked as to what time the boy got healed, he was told, ‘Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.’

The father realised that his son was healed at the exact time that Jesus told, ‘Your son will live.’ Faith doesn’t require proof or evidence that something will happen. Faith goes ahead of sight.

As believers, we are called to trust in God completely and not to lean on our own understanding. When we lean on our own understanding, we usually miss the miracle and the blessings that God has prepared for us in advance. In whatever circumstances or situations that we may find ourselves in, we are encouraged to believe in Jesus’ words, to trust in Him and to put our faith into action. Sometimes you may face fear and doubt, but above all else, trust in God. He never lets those who put their confidence in Him be put to shame. God is faithful to His word.