Qualities of Faith – How is it possible?

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

When the armies of Israel were presented with the challenge of the giant Goliath, they collectively ran away, and did not even attempt to fight him (1 Samuel 17:1–11, 24). David, a youth who was a shepherd, did not back down from the threats, but instead, he met the challenge with only a sling and five smooth stones. He was not foolhardy – knowing where victory would come from, he said to Goliath, “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands … for the battle is the LORD’S” (1 Samuel 17:45–47).

How was it possible for this youth to be so bold as to stand up against a giant? David had already told King Saul that the LORD had delivered him from a lion and a bear. Therefore, David was confident he would prevail because the Lord had previously given him victory against foes much larger and stronger than himself, and also because Goliath was defying the armies of the living God! (1 Samuel 17:26, 32–37)

Like David, we are faced with a daunting challenge. In our case, the challenge is our own sinful nature. We know it is a challenge because Peter said that believers are to use, “all diligence”^{[1], [2]} to supply moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, to our faith (2 Peter 2:5–7). The faith he referred to is the salvation we have been granted through the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; I Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Timothy 2:10).

How is it possible for us to supply these qualities to our faith? We can do this because the power of Jesus has given us what is necessary for this task (2 Peter 1:2–4). We were predestined to be in the likeness of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:28–30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13), but we have the responsibility to, “work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in [us], both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). This does not mean we work in order to get salvation (Ephesians 2:8–10), but instead, we work to prove we have been saved (James 2:14–26).

FOOTNOTES

1. From the Greek word, spoudē (G4710), which means, “speed”, that is, (by implication) despatch, eagerness, earnestness: – business, (earnest) care (-fulness), diligence[,] forwardness, haste. (Dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek Words taken from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D. Published in 1890; public domain.) ↑

2. Diligence, n. [L., to love earnestly; to choose.] 1. Steady application in business of any kind; constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken; exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth; due attention; industry; assiduity. 2. Care; heed; heedfulness. (Dictionary of American English by Noah Webster, 1828; public domain.) ↑