Faith Comes by Hearing

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." I read this on a friend's blog the other day, and it sent me into this stream of consciousness.

"Faith comes by hearing" I thought that meant that my faith will grow as I hear others talk about their faith. I wonder what scripture says about that?" "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God . . . nothing earth shattering there. But what does that mean? And are the two at odds with each other or connected to each other? Must I hear in order for my faith to grow . . . that sounds right. But how does my hearing come by the Word of God? Does that mean I'm supposed to hear from God by reading His Word? That sounds right too. But it does say in this passage "what if there are none to speak and none to preach?" So it sounds like it means that I need to actually "HEAR". So I think this means that WHO I am hearing needs to be getting their material from the Word of God."


I thought for days about that passage . . . "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." I decided it couldn't be bad to get into the Word of God about this, so I started looking up passages about faith.

This one hit me. Luke Chapter 22.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples at the last supper, he said to Simon, "Simon, Simon, satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that you might not fall away from your faith." These kinds of statements jack me up a little bit, to know that God gives satan permission to sift us like wheat, but then I am struck by this. Jesus, the Son of God, is praying that I might not fall away from my faith. Because . . . because He knows that in my sorrow, in my sifting, in my weariness, I may indeed, fall away from my faith.

Jesus asked His disciples to pray when they were in the garden. And the Bible says, "He found them sleeping from sorrow." I thought about all that these disciples had been through in the previous weeks, and all they were about to go through. And how Jesus had just been talking to them about how his "soul was deeply grieved, to the point of death." All of this had to have taken its toll, so in their sorrow, they slept.

And when He found them He said, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

I might not be physically asleep (trust me, I haven't slept well in a long time). But I have been spiritually asleep. Too tired to even do the basics some days. And the result is that I have questioned my faith, beyond safe boundaries I fear. I have fallen into temptation. The temptation of abandoning that faith all together.

But alas. Jesus is praying. He is praying that I might not fall away from my faith. And I am doing my part. I am reading and I am hearing, and I am reading about what I am hearing.


All that to say, I know that I will be stronger for having gone through this season of doubt. My faith is stronger. Different. But stronger.