The walk of faith refers to trusting in the Presence and love of God for your soul, even though you will suffer and experience various hardships in your life. Yes, we receive comfort from heaven and consolation through the Spirit of God, and yes we are given heavenly wisdom to know the truth that sets us free in Yeshua, however in this life we “see through a glass darkly,” which literally means “in a riddle” (ἐν αἰνίγματι). A riddle is an analogy given through some resemblance to the truth, though quite often the correspondences are puzzling and obscure. Hence, “seeing through a glass darkly” means perceiving obscurely or imperfectly, looking “through” something else instead of directly apprehending reality. We see only a reflection of reality, and our knowledge in this life is indirect and imperfect. This is contrasted with the “face to face” (פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים) vision and clarity given in the world to come, when our knowledge will be clear and distinct, and the love of God will be fully manifest to us and no longer hidden. Realizing this should make us humble whenever we consider our faith. “Now we know in part, but then shall we know in whole” (1 Cor. 13:12). We often do not have the “answers” for suffering, though “seeing through a glass darkly” means we have the means to trust God despite the present hour.
We must train ourselves to see beyond the realm of appearances, especially regarding matters of the heart. The “outer self” is perishing yet the “inner self” is renewed day by day. Moreover “our momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house, the “tent” we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 4:17-5:1). Amen. Like father Abraham we sojourn in a “land of promise” as “strangers” to this world, looking for a “city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:9-10). “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14).
Yeshua is the greatest and most worthy tzaddik of all, yet he terribly suffered throughout his life as the “man of sorrows (אִישׁ מַכְאֹבוֹת) acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). O consider how our beloved Messiah suffered and died while feeling forsaken by his heavenly Father (Matt. 27:46; Psalm 22:1). A modern day faith-healer might have wanted to “save” him from the pain he was undergoing, but that would have been a deal made with the devil (see Matt. 16:21-23). “We walk by faith, not by sight,” abiding in the grace of God and believing in his acceptance for us even in the midst of the desert of this world. Do not be fooled by specious appearances. Contrary to those who teach that Yeshua came to give us our “best life now,” being healthy or materially prosperous does not indicate spiritual blessing. In the world to come we will be surprised to see people like Lazarus the beggar in the “bosom of Abraham” while others who seemed successful in this world languishing in hell (Luke 16:20-31).
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- Isaiah 53:3a Hebrew Card (pdf)
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The truth of God can be found, not by means of carnal reasoning, but by special revelation and encounter with the Truth of God. This is sometimes called “argumentum spiritus sancti,” or the argument from the Holy Spirit. Kierkegaard wrote in his journals: “In 1 John 5:9 we read: ‘If we receive the testimony of men’ (this is all the historical proofs and considerations) ‘the testimony of God is greater’ — that is, the inward testimony is greater. And then in verse 10: ‘He who believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself.’ Therefore genuine faith is more than a creed or “doctrine”; it is existence itself, a matter of spirit, wherein new life is expressed in relationship to God through Yeshua the Savior.
Keep focused on the glory that is to come!