FAITH 

by Jason Burns 

Walking with Jesus, the disciples often displayed their lack of understanding of 

who Jesus was, or for that matter, the character of God. Matthew 8:26 is a verse in 

which Jesus is showing frustration with his disciples because of this. “…O ye of little 

faith?” (Matthew 8:26, KJV). Throughout my life I have always wonder about what faith 

is. It’s something that I have always heard about. All the preachers preached about it, 

but I have struggled to understand its full meaning. The writer of Hebrews describes 

Faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” 

(Hebrews 11:1), and this description of faith has been hard to understand. Over the 

years I had come to the conclusion that faith was a strong belief, but this idea has 

never squared with the idea of salvation.   

At the moment of salvation, most people do not have a strong belief. In my 

case it was more of an acknowledgement that I needed God’s help, and through many 

years of hearing the Word I knew that Jesus was the way. It was simple prayer and a 

simple thought, ​so I’m saved now.​ It seems that Ephesians 2:8 explains it best; “For by 

grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of 

works lest any man should boast” (KJV). This grace combined with faith is what allows 

us to become saved; not a strong belief. 

So as I’ve studied faith more, I have come to realize that faith is more of an issue 

of trust. The more a person understands the true character of God, the more that 

person can trust that God will always do what He says He’ll do. And, in my opinion, it is 

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this trust in God that is faith. Many Christians seem to trust God when it comes to 

salvation, but fail to fully trust God when it comes to finances, or health, or any number 

of other issues in their lives. This is why the Word says; “So then faith cometh by 

hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17, KJV). So as a Christian 

hears more and more of the word of God, they began to better understand God’s true 

nature concerning them and build more trust: Their faith grows. 

Now back to Matthew 8:28, the disciples where in a major wind storm. Matthew 

describes the waves swamping the boat and the disciples are afraid for their lives, but 

Jesus was asleep. In their panic they woke Jesus saying; “…Lord, save us: we perish.” 

(Matthew 8:25, KJV) and its Jesus’ response that gives us a clue. His abashing them 

on their lack of faith suggests that they had full power to calm the storm themselves. 

In Genesis 1:28, God says to Adam and Eve to subdue the earth. According to the 

Merriam-Webster dictionary subdue means: 

1: to conquer and bring into subjection: Vanquish 

2: to bring under control especially be an exertion of the will: Curb 

3: to bring (land) under cultivation 

4: to reduce the intensity or degree of: tone down (Merriam-Webster, 2015) 

So another way of phrasing it is the God gave them the authority to bring into 

subjection and reduce the intensity of nature through an exertion of will. The disciples, 

knowing the scriptures and being in the very presence of the Christ, had full authority 

to calm the storm themselves. The fact that they succumbed to their fear is evidence of 

their lack of understanding, and in turn, their lack of trust in the authority God had 

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given man. If this was not the case, Jesus would not have called out their lack of faith: 

lack of trust. 

There are many examples of man’s authority over nature through trusting God 

all throughout the Old Testament: 

● Trusting God, Abraham had a son, Genesis 21:1-7  

● Trusting God, Moses parted the Red Sea, Exodus 14:15-22 

● Trusting God, Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still, Joshua 10:12 

● Trusting God, Elijah called down fire from heaven, 1 Kings 18:37 

This list can go on, but the two that stand out to me are Moses parting the Red Sea 

and Joshua telling the Sun to stand still. 

After leaving Egypt and amassing at the shore of the Red Sea with Pharos’ army 

in pursuit, God told Moses; “…Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children 

of Israel that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over 

the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the 

midst of the sea” (Genesis 14:15-16, KJV). What amazes me about this passage is that 

God told Moses to divide the Sea and latter in verse 26, of the same passage, God told 

Moses to again stretch out his hands over the sea so that the waters might close upon 

the Egyptians. 

Joshua is another amazing example for the man’s authority over nature. 

Joshua, in battling with the Amorites, talked to the Lord and demanded the Sun and 

Moon to stop. For a whole day the Sun stood still and Joshua won the battle (Joshua 

10:12-14). Verse 14 goes on to say that this was the only time that the Lord heeded a 

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human, which is an interesting example of the bible being truly stated but not very 

statement being true. We, as Christians, know that if we ask anything in the name of 

Jesus it will be done. But it is astonishing that this passage in Joshua is describing a 

day in which the Earth stood still. This is something that is impossible in realm of 

physics. There is not any physical phenomenon that can account for this description 

and yet, there are numerous civilizations around the world that have stories of the sun 

staying in place or the night lasting for too long. According to egocentricity.com, a 

biblical astronomer’s guide, there have been reports from China to the Americas of 

either a prolonged day or an unusually long night (geocentricity.com, 2015). 

It was, both Moses’ and Joshua’s, complete trust in God that allowed them to 

part the sea and make the Earth stand still. However there are even more stories about 

the power of simply trusting God. One of the best examples of full and complete trust 

in God is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel chapter 

3. King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue and commanded all people to bow to 

the statue and worship it or be thrown into a fiery furnace, but Shadrach, Meshach, 

and Abednego refused to bow. When confronted by the king they did not argue the 

point, they simply said; “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is 

able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand.” (Daniel 3:17, 

NIV). In this statement they showed a complete and absolute trust in God. An example 

of trust that we should all aspire to. 

However these example of trusting God in the Old Testament are missing one 

key element; grace. Jesus, being our example of grace; cause there to be abundance 

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in the case of turning water in to wine (John 2:1-11), had compassion (Matthew 9:36), 

and saved the disciples despite their lack of faith re-enforcing what Paul wrote in 

Romans 10:13; “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It 

is this grace that allows miracles to happen in our lives despite our lack of faith in 

various situations. However, as we began to grow in our understanding of how God 

operates we began to trust God more, growing in faith, we find we need less miracles 

in our lives. 

Three of the four Gospels contain this story of Jesus calming the storm and in all 

accounts the disciples marveled and asked what manor of man is this that even the 

wind obeys him. The answer is simple, putting aside the fact that Jesus was the Son 

of God and the word of God and that without him nothing was created (John 1:3, KJV), 

Jesus, the man, knew that he had complete authority over the Earth and Jesus had 

perfect trust in God. Given this combination the storm had no choice but to obey him 

Another example of this authority over the Earth is giving in Matthew 21:18-22 

when Jesus curses the fig tree. Jesus cursed the barren fig tree and it withered and 

died, and the disciples were amazed asking; how is this possible? Jesus replied; 

“…Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which 

is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and 

be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in 

prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matthew 21:21-22, KJV).   

I believe the key statement in Matthew 21:21 is “and doubt not”. It is our doubt 

that seems to prevent us from experiencing the full and complete life that God has 

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intended for us. When it all boils down, doubt is simply a lack of trust in God. 

Overcoming doubt is a matter of “hearing, and hearing the word of God.” (Romans 

10:17, KJV) Then as we began to gain understanding, the next step is to put what we 

have learned into action; faith without works is dead (James 2:17, KJV). 

Now to the best passage that supports this idea that faith is trust in God. We have all 

heard stories about a child’s faith and children’s simple prayers being answered in 

seemly miraculous ways. If stop to consider this, it makes perfect since, children have 

complete and absolute trust. Jesus said; “Truly I tell you, unless you change and 

become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3, 

NIV). So unless you change and begin to fully and completely trust in God and the 

price that Jesus had paid for our redemption then you will not enter the kingdom of 

heaven.  

In Romans 8:15, Paul is telling us that it is by the Spirit that we are adopted and 

are able to cry “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15, NIV). This intimate word Abba or daddy, 

papa, dad, show us the type of the relationship that we are supposed to have with 

God. Understanding this type of relationship we are supposed to have we can better 

understand the verse; “and without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6, 

NIV). Without full and complete trust in God it is impossible to please God. 

Now with us being imperfect and human, it is grace that bridges the gap 

between the thoughts and intents of our hearts and our current ability to trust in God. 

The author of Hebrews shows us that the word of God; “judges the thoughts and 

attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV), and Paul wrote in Romans; “But where sin 

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increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20, NIV), so as we fall short of our 

desire to perfectly and absolutely trust in God grace provides a cover for our failure 

and allows us to receive miracles in our lives despite our current lack of faith. 

So to conclude, faith is trust in God. Everyone has been giving a measure of 

faith (Romans 12:3, NIV). This is the measure that allows a person to take that initial 

step of trusting God enough to accept that Jesus has died for their sins and that by 

believing in their heart and confessing that Jesus is Lord they are saved (Romans 10:9, 

NIV). After this step, trust in God grows by hearing the word of God and applying it in 

their lives and hearing more of the word of God and applying it. This cycle it 

continuous and faith grows more and more until one day we can tell the storms in our 

live to be still and have complete trust in God that it will happen.