---
title: "Faith"
category: "theology"
description: "Faith is leaning your whole weight on God and on what He has finished in Jesus. Scripture surrounds you with people who did it, weak in themselves and made strong by the One they trusted, and tells you to imitate their faith."
tags: ["habakkuk", "hebrews", "romans", "2-chronicles", "1-samuel", "daniel", "matthew", "mark", "luke", "revelation", "faith", "grace", "humility", "justification", "method/word-study", "lang/hebrew", "lang/aramaic", "lang/greek"]
questions: ["What is faith?", "How do I trust God when my faith feels weak?"]
draft: false
primary_passage: "Habakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 11:1-40"
bible_references: ["2 Chronicles 20:1-22", "Genesis 15:6", "Exodus 17:12", "Isaiah 7:9", "Deuteronomy 32:4", "Romans 1:17", "Galatians 3:11", "Hebrews 10:38-39", "Habakkuk 1:6", "Habakkuk 2:3", "Hebrews 6:12", "Hebrews 13:7", "Hebrews 12:1-2", "Romans 4:16-21", "Genesis 17:17", "Hebrews 11:11", "Hebrews 11:17-19", "1 Samuel 17:45-47", "Daniel 3:17-18", "Daniel 6:23", "Matthew 8:5-13", "Luke 7:1-10", "Matthew 15:21-28", "Mark 7:24-30", "Matthew 17:20", "Matthew 14:28-31", "Mark 9:22-24", "Ephesians 2:8-9", "Psalm 95:7-11", "Hebrews 3:7-8", "Hebrews 3:19", "Hebrews 4:9-10", "Genesis 2:2", "John 19:30", "Romans 4:4-5", "Romans 11:6", "2 Corinthians 1:8-9", "Luke 18:13-14", "John 6:28-29", "James 2:22", "Genesis 22:2", "1 Samuel 17:48", "Hebrews 11:35-39", "Matthew 7:6", "Luke 16:21", "Philippians 3:2", "2 Peter 2:22", "Revelation 22:15", "Revelation 3:14-22", "Isaiah 55:1", "Lamentations 3:22-23", "Matthew 6:11", "2 Timothy 2:13", "Matthew 6:30", "Matthew 8:26", "Matthew 16:8-10", "Luke 12:28", "1 Peter 5:7", "Hebrews 10:14"]
date_created: 2026-09-29
date_modified: 2026-10-31
ai_provider_models:
  - anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
---

# Faith

Some men came and told King Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from
beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar" (2 Chronicles 20:2, ESV). Jehoshaphat was
afraid. He proclaimed a fast, gathered Judah at the temple, and prayed:

> ✝️ 2 Chronicles 20:12 (ESV)
>
> 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde
> that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

The Spirit of the LORD came on a Levite named Jahaziel (2 Chronicles 20:14), and he answered: "the
battle is not yours but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15, ESV). Early the next morning the king stood
before the army and said, "Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established" (2 Chronicles
20:20, ESV). He sent singers out in front of the soldiers: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast
love endures forever" (2 Chronicles 20:21, ESV). When they began to sing, the LORD routed the armies
(2 Chronicles 20:22).

A king who was powerless, a God who was great, and eyes turned to Him. That is faith.

**In one sentence:** Faith is leaning your whole weight on God and on what He has finished in Jesus;
Scripture surrounds you with people who did it, weak in themselves and made strong by the One they
trusted, so imitate their faith and lean on Him every morning.

## Key Takeaways

*(This section follows the [Key Takeaways](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/key-takeaways/) format — see that page for what each part is for.)*

### Lessons about Jesus

- **Jesus finished the work.** "It is finished" (John 19:30, ESV). "By a single offering he has
  perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14, ESV). Faith rests on a work
  that is complete.
- **Jesus heads the line of the faithful.** After the witnesses of Hebrews 11 comes "Jesus, the
  founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).
- **Jesus praises great faith in outsiders.** To a Roman centurion: "with no one in Israel have I
  found such faith" (Matthew 8:10, ESV). To a Canaanite mother: "O woman, great is your faith!"
  (Matthew 15:28, ESV).
- **Jesus reaches for the sinking.** Peter cried "Lord, save me," and "Jesus immediately reached out
  his hand and took hold of him" (Matthew 14:30-31, ESV).
- **Jesus stands at the door and knocks.** He offers to come in and eat with anyone who opens
  (Revelation 3:20).

### Memory verses

> ✝️ Romans 4:20-21 (ESV)
>
> 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he
> gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

> ✝️ Mark 9:24 (ESV)
>
> 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

### Be Transformed

- **Think.** The strength of faith is in the One you trust (Romans 4:20). Your salvation is finished: Jesus did the work, and God
  counts you righteous as a gift (Romans 4:4-5).
- **Attitude.** Rest. "Whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from
  his" (Hebrews 4:10, ESV). When you catch yourself trying to make it up to God, stop and thank Him
  instead.
- **Do.** Each morning this week, pray the father's prayer before anything else: "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24, ESV). Then read one life from Hebrews 11, and ask what that person knew about God that let them lean on Him.

### Prayer

Father, you are the Rock, and your work is perfect. You are a God of faithfulness, and your mercies
are new every morning. Thank you for your Son Jesus, who finished the work of our salvation on the
cross and gives it to us as a gift, and who began our faith and will complete it. Thank you for
Abraham and Sarah, for David and Jehoshaphat, for Daniel and his friends, and for those who taught us
your word and showed us how to trust you. We are powerless, and our eyes are on you. Jesus, we hear
you knocking; come in and eat with us. We believe; help our unbelief. Hold us steady until the going
down of the sun, and teach us to live by faith in you, today and every day.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

## Study outline

- [What the words mean](#what-the-words-mean). Hebrew *ʾaman*, "to be firm," and the first places
  Scripture uses it: Abraham believing, and Moses' hands held steady.
- [The righteous shall live by faith](#the-righteous-shall-live-by-faith). Habakkuk 2:4, the verse
  the New Testament quotes for faith, given to a prophet told to wait.
- [Imitate their faith](#imitate-their-faith). Hebrews' cloud of witnesses, and four pairs up
  close: Abraham and Sarah, David and Jehoshaphat, Daniel and his friends, and the centurion and the
  Canaanite woman, the two whose faith Jesus praised most highly. Each was weak, and each leaned on a
  great God.
- [Small faith in a great God](#small-faith-in-a-great-god). The mustard seed, Peter on the water, and
  the father who asked for help to believe.
- [Resting on a finished work](#resting-on-a-finished-work). God's rest, wages and gifts, and the one
  work Jesus asks for.
- [The door, every morning](#the-door-every-morning). Jesus knocking at Laodicea, and faith as a daily
  leaning.
- [Discussion questions](#discussion-questions). Six, for a group or on your own.

## What the words mean

### Firm enough to lean on

The Hebrew verb is <span dir="rtl">אָמַן</span> (*ʾaman*, ah-MAHN, H539). Its root sense is to be firm,
steady and reliable. In the form translated "believe" it means to treat something as firm, and so to
lean on it. The word *amen* comes from the same root. To say "amen" is to say, "This is firm. I put
my weight on it."

The first time the Bible says anyone believed, it is Abraham, on a night when he had no son and God
told him to count the stars:

> ✝️ Genesis 15:6 (ESV)
>
> 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

The Hebrew says he believed *in* the LORD (<span dir="rtl">בַּיהוָה</span>, *ba-YHWH*, "in the LORD"). Abraham's faith had a
person as its object. He leaned on God, and God counted him righteous.

### Hands held steady

The noun is <span dir="rtl">אֱמוּנָה</span> (*ʾemunah*, eh-moo-NAH, H530), firmness or faithfulness.
It appears 49 times in the Hebrew Bible, and its first use is a picture. Israel was fighting Amalek,
and as long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed. His arms grew tired.

> ✝️ Exodus 17:12 (ESV)
>
> 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while
> Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands
> were steady until the going down of the sun.

"Steady" is *ʾemunah*. Moses' hands were firm because others held them up. The word begins with a
picture of faith: firmness that comes from being held.

God's own character is the same word. "The Rock, his work is perfect... A God of faithfulness"
(Deuteronomy 32:4, ESV). Isaiah made a pun on the root to a frightened king: "If you are not firm in
faith, you will not be firm at all" (Isaiah 7:9, ESV). Both halves are *ʾaman*. The same pair is on
Jehoshaphat's lips at 2 Chronicles 20:20, "Believe (<span dir="rtl">הַאֲמִינוּ</span>) in the LORD
your God, and you will be established (<span dir="rtl">וְתֵאָמֵנוּ</span>)," which the ESV Study
Bible reads as drawing on Isaiah 7:9. Lean on God, and you stand on the one thing that is firm.

Faith in Scripture is putting your weight on God, because He is the one thing that will hold it. The Greek New Testament carries this into πίστις (*pistis*, G4102, "faith") and
πιστεύω (*pisteuō*, G4100, "believe"), which appear 242 and 241 times.

## The righteous shall live by faith

### Habakkuk's question

Habakkuk prophesied as Babylon was rising. He complained that God was doing nothing about injustice
in Judah, and God answered that He was raising up the Babylonians to judge it (Habakkuk 1:6). That
made it worse: how could a holy God use a nation more wicked than the one it punished? God told the
prophet to write the vision down and wait for it. "If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely
come" (Habakkuk 2:3, ESV). Then He gave the heart of His answer:

> ✝️ Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV)
>
> 4 "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his
> faith.

In context, the swollen soul is Babylon and its king, whose pride the rest of the chapter judges in
five woes (Habakkuk 2:6-20); the [Pride](https://the-way.lewy.au/sin/pride/#earning-what-god-gives) study follows its
Hebrew word to Kadesh. The righteous person takes God at His word about a vision that "will
surely come" and lives by leaning on the God who gave it. The ESV Study Bible sums him up as one who
relies on God.

The New Testament quotes this verse three times as its text for faith (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11;
Hebrews 10:38). Paul quotes only the second half. Hebrews quotes it and then spends a whole chapter
showing what living by faith looks like.

### What is contested here

The first half of the verse is hard Hebrew. The CSB's translators footnote it "Hb obscure," and
translations differ over how to read it. The Greek Old Testament reads it differently again, and
Hebrews quotes that form: "if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38, ESV).

The second half is also read two ways. *ʾEmunah* can mean "faith" or "faithfulness," and the CSB and
LSB footnote "Or faithfulness." The Greek Old Testament has "by *my* faithfulness," which would make
it God's. Both readings are true to the root. The righteous live by leaning on God, and what they
lean on is His faithfulness. Paul quotes it as "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17, ESV)
and builds on the believer's trust, the same trust Abraham showed in Genesis 15:6.

## Imitate their faith

### A cloud of witnesses

Straight after Habakkuk 2:4, Hebrews 11 opens, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1, ESV). Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses and
Rahab follow, introduced one after another with πίστει (*pistei*, G4102), "by faith." Then the letter turns
to you: "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us" (Hebrews 12:1, ESV). At the head of the line is "Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"
(Hebrews 12:2, ESV), who ran that race Himself to the cross. The Greek has "the faith," and the ESV
supplies "our"; either way, Jesus begins faith and brings it to its end.

Hebrews tells you twice to copy them. Be "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit
the promises" (Hebrews 6:12, ESV), μιμηταί (*mimētai*, G3402). And of the leaders who first taught
them: "Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13:7, ESV),
μιμεῖσθε (*mimeisthe*, G3401).

What you copy is where they looked. Hebrews sums up a whole line of them as people who "were made
strong out of weakness" (Hebrews 11:34, ESV). The verb, ἐδυναμώθησαν (*edynamōthēsan*, G1412), is
passive: they were given strength. The ESV Study Bible suggests the phrase was written with the
readers' own weaknesses in mind (Hebrews 4:15). Four pairs show the pattern up close, some from
Hebrews 11 and some from beyond it.

### Abraham and Sarah: God was able

Abraham was about a hundred years old, and the promised son had not come. Paul tells you what he
looked at:

> ✝️ Romans 4:19-21 (ESV)
>
> 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he
> was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief
> made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to
> God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Abraham looked squarely at his own body and at Sarah's womb, and both were as good as dead. Then he
looked at "the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the
things that do not exist" (Romans 4:17, ESV). "Grew strong" is ἐνεδυναμώθη (*enedynamōthē*, G1743),
passive again: he was strengthened, and it happened "as he gave glory to God." Faith gives God the
credit for being able. Abraham's faith was also uneven. He had laughed at the promise (Genesis 17:17),
and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible reads Paul as describing the main course of his life. God
kept the promise.

Hebrews says the same of Sarah. She "received power to conceive, even when she was past the age,
since she considered him faithful who had promised" (Hebrews 11:11, ESV). "Faithful" is πιστός
(*pistos*, G4103), from the same family as *pistis*. Her faith was a judgement about God: He was
trustworthy.

Years later God told Abraham to offer Isaac, and Abraham went. "He considered that God was able even
to raise him from the dead" (Hebrews 11:19, ESV).

### David and Jehoshaphat: the battle is the LORD's

David went out to Goliath with a sling and five stones, and he said what he was trusting:

> ✝️ 1 Samuel 17:45, 47 (ESV)
>
> 45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a
> javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom
> you have defied. ... 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and
> spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand."

Hebrews names David among those who "through faith conquered kingdoms" (Hebrews 11:32-33, ESV).
David's confidence was the name of the LORD of hosts.

Jehoshaphat, generations later, heard the same truth from Jahaziel (2 Chronicles 20:15), as this
study opened. The ESV Study Bible notes that in that battle God alone acts, and Judah's part is to
pray, trust His word, worship Him and watch.

### Daniel and his friends: able, and good

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood before Nebuchadnezzar with the furnace already heated:

> ✝️ Daniel 3:17-18 (ESV)
>
> 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and
> he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we
> will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

They were sure of God's power. What God would do with it was in His hands, and they trusted Him with
that too. The ESV Study Bible reads "But if not" the same way: God's power is sometimes shown in
deliverance and sometimes withheld while His people suffer. Hebrews remembers them as those who
"quenched the power of fire" (Hebrews 11:34, ESV), an identification the ESV Study Bible and the NIV
Biblical Theology Study Bible both make.

Daniel came up out of the lions' den unharmed, "because he had trusted in his God" (Daniel 6:23,
ESV). The Aramaic is <span dir="rtl">הֵימִן</span> (*heymin*, H540), the Aramaic form of the same
root as *ʾaman*. Daniel leaned on his God, and Hebrews remembers those who "stopped the mouths of
lions" (Hebrews 11:33, ESV).

Others in the chapter saw no rescue. "Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they
might rise again to a better life" (Hebrews 11:35, ESV); others were stoned and killed with the sword
(Hebrews 11:37). "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was
promised" (Hebrews 11:39, ESV). Their faith rested on the God who promised, and He keeps His promises
past death.

### Two outsiders Jesus praised

Matthew records Jesus praising faith in the strongest terms twice (Matthew 8:10; 15:28). Both times
the person is a Gentile asking for someone else, and both times Jesus heals from a distance.
The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible notes how closely the second story recalls the first.

#### The centurion: only say the word

A Roman officer in Capernaum came about his servant, "lying paralyzed at home,
suffering terribly" (Matthew 8:6, ESV). Luke adds that the servant "was highly valued by him" (Luke
7:2, ESV). Jesus offered to come, and the centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come
under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Matthew 8:8, ESV). He too was a
man under authority: he gave an order and it was done (Matthew 8:9). He measured Jesus' word by
Jesus' authority. In Luke the Jewish elders plead, "He is worthy to have you do this for him" (Luke
7:4, ESV), and the centurion sends word, "I am not worthy" (Luke 7:6, ESV).

> ✝️ Matthew 8:10 (ESV)
>
> 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I tell you, with
> no one in Israel have I found such faith.

"Go; let it be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed "at that very moment"
(Matthew 8:13, ESV).

#### The Canaanite woman: crumbs from the table

In the district of Tyre and Sidon a woman came crying, "Have mercy on me, O
Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon" (Matthew 15:22, ESV). Jesus "did not
answer her a word" (Matthew 15:23, ESV). The disciples asked Him to send her away, and He said He was
"sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24, ESV). She knelt, προσεκύνει
(*prosekynei*, G4352), the word for bowing in worship, and said, "Lord, help me" (Matthew 15:25, ESV).

> ✝️ Matthew 15:26-28 (ESV)
>
> 26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 She
> said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then
> Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her
> daughter was healed instantly.

#### Little dogs under the table

The usual New Testament word for "dog" is κύων (*kyōn*, G2965), and its five uses are street dogs, or the word used as an insult: the dogs that licked Lazarus's
sores (Luke 16:21), "Do not give dogs what is holy" (Matthew 7:6, ESV), "Look out for the dogs"
(Philippians 3:2, ESV), the dog that "returns to its own vomit" (2 Peter 2:22, ESV), and the dogs
outside the city (Revelation 22:15). Here Jesus says κυνάριον (*kynarion*, G2952), a diminutive,
"little dog." It appears four times in the New Testament, every one of them in this conversation
(Matthew 15:26-27; Mark 7:27-28). The ESV Study Bible says the form "suggests" a household pet, and
reads the exchange as Jesus testing her faith.

The woman's answer shows that she heard it that way. She kept His word, κυνάρια, and put the dogs in
the house: they eat "the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (Matthew 15:27, ESV), "the dogs
under the table" (Mark 7:28, ESV). "Masters" is κυρίων (*kyriōn*, G2962), the same word as the "Lord"
(Κύριε) she has just called Jesus. A household dog belongs to the house and is fed from its table.
So she took the place His words gave her, "Yes, Lord," and argued from the abundance of the Master's
table: a crumb from it was enough to free her daughter. Jesus accepted her reading: "For this
statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter" (Mark 7:29, ESV).

**The household-dog reading is probable, and it is contested.** The NIV Biblical Theology Study
Bible says that among Jews dogs "were not household pets but wild scavengers," and the ESV Study
Bible grants the same of Palestine's dogs before turning to the diminutive. On that reading the
saying keeps its sting and her answer turns it. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes how
harsh "dog" was as an insult, while observing that it is not used as a direct label here. The case
for the household dog is the word Jesus chose, the table she placed the dogs under, and the answer
He gave her.

### What Jesus praised

These two show you what great faith looks like:

- **They saw who Jesus is.** The centurion saw an authority in Jesus' word that needed no journey.
  The woman called Him "Lord, Son of David," Israel's King, from outside Israel.
- **They came on His mercy alone.** "I am not worthy." "Have mercy on me." "Yes, Lord." The ESV
  Study Bible calls hers an "attitude of humble faith."
- **They kept asking.** The woman met silence, a refusal and a hard saying, and she knelt and asked
  again.
- **They trusted His word.** One asked only for a word, and the other answered His word with one of
  her own. Each received "as you have believed," "as you desire."
- **They asked for someone else.** A servant and a daughter. Both brought another person's need to
  Jesus.

Their faith was great because they saw how great He is. They made a small claim on Him and held a
large view of Him, and Jesus called that great faith.

### What they share

Each of them was weak at the point where they trusted: an old body and a barren womb, a boy facing a
giant, a king with too small an army, three men before a furnace and one in a den of lions, two
Gentiles with no claim on Israel's Messiah. Each looked at God: the God who gives life to the dead,
the LORD of hosts, the faithful one who promised, the God who is able to deliver, the Lord whose word is enough and whose crumbs are enough.

And each then went where God sent: Abraham to Moriah (Genesis 22:2), David running toward the battle
line (1 Samuel 17:48), Jehoshaphat out to the wilderness of Tekoa (2 Chronicles 20:20). James says
of Abraham at Moriah that his "faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his
works" (James 2:22, ESV). Leaning on God shows itself in going where He sends.

## Small faith in a great God

### The mustard seed

The disciples had just failed to heal a boy, and asked why. Jesus answered, "Because of your little
faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" (Matthew 17:20, ESV). Some manuscripts read
"your unbelief" (CSB footnote); in the text the ESV follows, He rebukes little faith
and praises seed-sized faith in one breath, so the likeliest reading is that He is measuring where
their faith rested. A mustard seed is tiny. What moves the mountain is God, and a tiny faith in a
great God is enough, because the weight is on Him.

If you worry that your faith is too weak, look at what Jesus measured: the seed, and the God it is
planted in. He asks you to lean on Him, and He does the lifting.

### "Why did you doubt?"

Jesus called His disciples ὀλιγόπιστοι (*oligopistoi*, G3640), "you of little faith," five times
in the Gospels, on four occasions, once to Peter alone. Each time they were afraid or anxious: about food and clothing (Matthew 6:30; Luke 12:28), in a
storm (Matthew 8:26), sinking (Matthew 14:31), and over forgotten bread soon after He had fed
five thousand and then four thousand (Matthew 16:8-10). The ESV Study Bible reads the word as faith in short supply, still
present. Each time Jesus names it and then provides: He promises to clothe them, calms the sea,
catches Peter, and reminds them of the baskets left over. Little faith is faith whose eyes have moved
from God to the need. The best-known is Peter on the water. Peter asked to
come, Jesus said "Come," and Peter walked on the water toward Jesus.

> ✝️ Matthew 14:30-31 (ESV)
>
> 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
> 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little
> faith, why did you doubt?"

Peter's faith got him out of the boat. What went wrong was where he looked: "when he saw the wind."
The word for "doubt," διστάζω (*distazō*, G1365), is used twice in the New Testament, here and at
Matthew 28:17. It means to waver or hesitate. Peter's weight shifted from Jesus to the
storm. And even then, Jesus caught him "immediately." His faithfulness held when Peter's faith
failed. "If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13, ESV).

Peter seems to have learned it. Years later he wrote of "casting all your anxieties on him, because
he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7, ESV), the passage the
[humility](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/#humble-yourself-and-he-will-lift-you-up) study treats in
full. The answer to little faith is to look at Him.

### "Help my unbelief"

A father brought his son, tormented by a spirit since childhood, and said to Jesus, "if you can do
anything, have compassion on us and help us" (Mark 9:22, ESV). Jesus threw the "if" back at him:
"'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes" (Mark 9:23, ESV).

> ✝️ Mark 9:24 (ESV)
>
> 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

This is faith at its most honest. The father believes, and he knows his belief is not enough, so he
asks Jesus for that too. Jesus healed the boy on the faith the father had.

Your faith is held up by Christ, too. Grace, faith and all are "the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8,
ESV), as the [Assurance of Salvation](https://the-way.lewy.au/salvation/assurance-of-salvation/#the-grammar-of-not-your-own-doing)
study shows from the grammar.

## Resting on a finished work

### Rest from your works

The letter to the Hebrews reads the wilderness generation as a warning to Christians, and its text is
Psalm 95: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Psalm 95:7-8, ESV, quoted at
Hebrews 3:7-8). The psalm ends with God's oath, "They shall not enter my rest" (Psalm 95:11, ESV).
Hebrews gives the reason (the [Pride](https://the-way.lewy.au/sin/pride/#earning-what-god-gives) study tells that
day at Kadesh): "So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief" (Hebrews
3:19, ESV). Then it tells you what believing looks like:

> ✝️ Hebrews 4:9-10 (ESV)
>
> 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest
> has also rested from his works as God did from his.

God rested on the seventh day because His work was finished (Genesis 2:2). You enter His rest the
same way: by trusting that the work is finished and stopping your own. Jesus said "It is finished"
(John 19:30). Faith takes Him at His word.

### Wages and gifts

Paul explains how faith receives:

> ✝️ Romans 4:4-5 (ESV)
>
> 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who
> does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Work earns wages, and wages are owed. Faith receives a gift. God "justifies the ungodly," so the
people He declares righteous had nothing to bring. "That is why it depends on faith, in order that
the promise may rest on grace" (Romans 4:16, ESV). And grace stays grace: "if it is by grace, it is
no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace" (Romans 11:6, ESV).

Paul learned this in the worst season of his ministry. In Asia he "despaired of life itself" (2
Corinthians 1:8, ESV). "But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead"
(2 Corinthians 1:9, ESV). God let Paul come to the end of himself so that he would put his weight on God. The tax
collector in Jesus' parable stood far off and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13,
ESV), and he "went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:14, ESV). He brought nothing.

This is where [humility](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/) and faith meet. Humility is living before God
as someone who depends on Him for everything. Faith is that dependence at the point of salvation.
Both say, "I have nothing in my hand."

### The one work

A crowd once asked Jesus, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" (John 6:28, ESV). They
asked about works, plural. Jesus answered with one: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him
whom he has sent" (John 6:29, ESV). The one work God asks for is to trust His Son.

## The door, every morning

### He is knocking

The last of the seven letters in Revelation goes to Laodicea. It opens with Jesus' name for Himself:
"The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Revelation 3:14, ESV). The Greek is ὁ Ἀμήν
(*ho Amēn*, G281), the Hebrew word carried straight over. When you believe, you say amen to Him. The
church had stopped leaning on Him and was saying, "I need nothing" (Revelation 3:17, ESV; the
[Pride](https://the-way.lewy.au/sin/pride/#success) study looks at the city behind those words). Jesus counsels them to
"buy from me" (Revelation 3:18, ESV), and they have nothing to buy with. The ESV Study Bible hears
Isaiah behind it: "he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without price" (Isaiah 55:1, ESV). It is grace offered to people who have to admit they are poor to
receive it.

> ✝️ Revelation 3:20 (ESV)
>
> 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come
> in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

"I stand" is ἕστηκα (*hestēka*, G2476), a perfect form: Jesus has taken His stand at the door and is still
there. "Knock" is present tense, and He is knocking as He speaks. He is patient. He waits to be let
in. And what He wants is fellowship: to "eat with him, and he with me." In that world a shared meal
meant a restored relationship.

Opening the door is hearing His voice, admitting your need, and letting Him in. Who the verse is
for first, and what it says about the church at Laodicea, is for a fuller study on the
[backlog](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/backlog/#104-i-stand-at-the-door-and-knock).

### Every morning

You open the door more than once. A church can drift into self-sufficiency, and so can any believer.
Faith is a daily leaning, as the [Lord's Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/lords-prayer/) asks for bread
"this day" (Matthew 6:11). The writer of Lamentations, traditionally Jeremiah, sat in the ruins of Jerusalem and wrote:

> ✝️ Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
>
> 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new
> every morning; great is your faithfulness.

"Faithfulness" there is *ʾemunah*. God's firmness is new every morning, so your leaning can be too.
Each day Jesus is at the door. Each day you can pray with the father, "I believe; help my unbelief,"
and with Jehoshaphat, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." Faith like that brings
nothing, and it is enough because it rests on Him.

## Discussion questions

1. **The language.** The first use of *ʾemunah* is Moses' hands held steady by Aaron and Hur (Exodus
   17:12). What does it say about faith that the word begins with someone being held up?
2. **The text in its context.** Habakkuk was told to write the vision down and wait for it (Habakkuk
   2:3-4), and Hebrews quotes Habakkuk 2:4 just before a chapter of people who waited. What does
   waiting have to do with faith?
3. **Christ.** Jesus praised the faith of a centurion who said "only say the word" (Matthew 8:8) and
   of a woman who said "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs" (Matthew 15:27). What did each
   of them understand about Jesus?
4. **The examples.** Abraham considered his body "as good as dead" and was "fully convinced that God
   was able" (Romans 4:19-21). Of the people in this study, whose faith do you most need to imitate
   now, and what did they know about God?
5. **The hard part.** Daniel's friends said, "But if not" (Daniel 3:18), and Hebrews says others,
   "though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised" (Hebrews 11:39). How do you trust God when you
   do not know what He will do?
6. **Be transformed.** Hebrews 13:7 tells you to consider the faith of those who taught you God's
   word. Whose faith will you imitate this week, and what would it look like to open the door to
   Jesus tomorrow morning and say, "I believe; help my unbelief"?

## References & Recommended Reading

- **ESV Study Bible** (Crossway) — notes on Habakkuk 2:4, 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 and 20:20-23 (the
  Isaiah 7:9 background), Matthew 6:30 (little faith as faith in short supply), Daniel 3:18, Matthew 8:10, Matthew 15:26-28, Hebrews 11:34 and Revelation 3:14-22, including
  the Isaiah 55:1 background to Revelation 3:18.
- **NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible** (Zondervan) — notes on Romans 4:20 (Abraham's laughter and
  the course of his life), Matthew 15:26-28 (dogs; the echo of Matthew 8), Hebrews 11:34 and Revelation 3:20 (the letter addressed to church members
  first).
- **NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible** (Zondervan) — notes on Matthew 15:26 ("dog" as an insult)
  and Revelation 3:20 (the meal as covenant fellowship).
- **Christian Standard Bible** and **Legacy Standard Bible** — translator footnotes at Habakkuk 2:4
  ("Hb obscure"; "Or faithfulness").
- **Macula Hebrew (WLC)** and **Macula Greek (SBLGNT)** — occurrence data for אָמַן, אֱמוּנָה,
  πίστις, πιστεύω, ὀλιγόπιστος, διστάζω, δυναμόω and κυνάριον, and the forms at Romans 4:20, Hebrews 6:12,
  11:11, 11:34, 13:7 and Revelation 3:20; the Aramaic of Daniel 6:23.
- **Septuagint lemmas** (Open Scriptures Septuagint Project) — the Greek of Habakkuk 2:4.

### On this site

- [In Humility](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/) — living before God as someone who depends on Him for
  everything.
- [Pride](https://the-way.lewy.au/sin/pride/) — self-sufficiency, and the pride that tries to earn what God gives.
- [Assurance of Salvation](https://the-way.lewy.au/salvation/assurance-of-salvation/) — the grammar of Ephesians 2:8-9, and how you
  can know you have eternal life.
- [The Woman Who Touched the Fringe](https://the-way.lewy.au/jesus/woman-with-the-issue-of-blood/) — a woman twelve years
  unclean who reached out and touched Jesus.
- [The Lord's Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/lords-prayer/) — "Give us this day our daily bread."