Faith is only seen in the calmness of the soul in the midst of a tempest. The Bible tells us to be still to know God, being shod with shoes that will support and maintain us standing firmly on the ground. As a source and foundation of our strength, it needs to be cultivated daily, for it is by faith that victory is won. Faith sustains hope, hope in the promised future the Bible assures us. Practical faith is exercised every moment, as we move and accomplish the tasks of the day. Although challenging circumstances change and redirect our path, it is, without a doubt, the way to strengthen faith’s muscles. As the physical body’s muscles need to be exercised, so faith needs trials to be strengthened. Unpleasant as it might be, it carries a weight of reward at the end. In the physical world, it is faith that gets us out of bed, that carries us through the day, helping us to accomplish the things we need to do, without us thinking about it, for it is a natural way of life, part of being human. Faith eliminates fear and encourages power: “I can do all things, because YAHSHUA strengthens me.” Believing it, empowers faith to be effective in all aspects of life. Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous woman as courageous in all the subjects of life; courageous, fearless, industrious. Faith, is without a doubt, the secret of her strength, the pillar and foundation of all she can accomplish. Today, is hard to find such woman, because the world is guided by gadgets. The woman of Proverbs 31 is non-existent in this life style of today. Technology has taken the human abilities away and replaced them with laziness. Robots clean the floors; washing machines and stoves are labor saving electrical devises, facilitating women’s work. Cooking has been replaced with prepared frozen foods; sowing is no longer a need, for clothes are bought ready to wear. So, what’s there for women to do to show her virtuality as a virtuous woman?
A virtuous woman of today is still a woman of faith, when she performs her responsibilities in season and out of season. In the physical world, her work is diminished, however remains her spiritual duty to perform toward her household. When her goal is to please her Lord and Savior, her actions will show in the way of love toward her husband and children, in the way she cares for them. The family that is sustained by faith is a family that stays together. When the Lord returns, will He find faith on this earth? Was His question. We can understand His question, observing the easy life-style, in the absence of spiritual priority, in the lack of respect for God’s Word, in its interpretation to conform to our life style. We walk in a church and what do we see? A lack of respect for God’s house, it is as if a party is about to happen, not a worship service. Uttered sermons are, in many cases, means of entertaining the crowd with jokes and not conviction of sins. The church becomes then a platform for comedians. This environment offers no place for faith to be exercised, because it lacks the source and foundation of faith, from where our strength emanates. It is faith that compels us to do what is right in the sight of God and man. A life voided of faith shows to be weak and victim of circumstances. Looking at the lives of the heroes of faith is plain to see that they depended heavily on faith for their spiritual sustenance; they had to suffer the trial of mocking and scourging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death; they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith]; they were sawn asunder; they were slaughtered by the sword; [while they were alive] they had to go about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated- Men of whom the world was not worthy- roaming over the desolate places and the mountains, and [living] in caves and caverns and holes of the earth…(Heb. 11:36-38). And none of them gave up the faith to flee suffering of persecution.
Light from the Word 