Day 20: Go forward!

If we had complete and unreserved faith in three aspects of God’s nature—His goodness, His wisdom, and His power—then we would never disobey God. If in every situation we could believe that God is good, that He wants only the best for us, that He has the wisdom to know what is best and the power to provide it, then we would never have any motive for disobedience. All disobedience against God, traced back to its origin, comes from unbelief.

Only two attitudes toward God are possible: faith that unites us to Him or unbelief that separates us from Him. Each excludes the other. The writer of the book of Hebrews quoted Habakkuk’s prophecy, confronting us with the two alternatives:

“But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:38–39)

Once we have committed ourselves to the life that is based on faith, we cannot afford to turn away from it again. To go back into unbelief leads only to darkness and destruction. To go forward, we must continue as we began—in faith!