Recently I heard (where?) a very fascinating statement: “Certainty is fleeting that’s why we need faith.” I would gladly attribute this to whomever spoke or wrote it but, alas, I don’t know the originating source. The point though is that this comment should cause all of us to pause and look at ‘certainty’ and ‘faith’ and where, on this continuum, we stand when it is the essential and eternal issues of life.
You can probably place all issues on a sliding scale from certainty to faith. There are certain issues that have become statements of faith in our lives. We believe without the tangible evidence. We stand on Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And this should cause us to pause as we read that faith is the ‘substance’ and ‘evidence’. The entire chapter gives evidences of people believing, operating in faith without seeing the results, the proof of their faith, yet continuing to stand in faith.
Certainty, according to Webster: “a fact about which there is no doubt, the quality or state…on the basis of evidence”. Some of the synonyms are: confidence, conviction, surety, etc. The point is that whatever ‘it’ is, there is no doubt – it is a given. Facts don’t require any personal involvement because whether or not you like them, they are indisputably true. But is it always a provable fact? To complicate this even more, “…God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) and “…whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23). How do those scriptures influence and direct us in knowing what we believe is certainty and what we are standing in faith. To muddy this even further, in both cases of faith and certainty, does doubt play a role?
It may not be scriptural but I believe doubt’s role is as the catalyst that causes us to reconsider what it is we believe and why. It is also what causes us to reassess where we are on the continuum on the issue of (fill in the blank). The point is – never try to ignore or hide from doubt, let it assist you to determine as much why as what it is you believe, and the strength of your believing. You need to know for yourself … does a high level of certainty need to exist before faith can be the foundation? Or does certainty undermine standing on faith? Does faith rely on certainty? All these questions are individually determined.
