By faith Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews
11:8)
Obedience to the will of
God, whether His will is found in the Scriptures or revealed in the Spirit to
the saint, is an important aspect of faith—the faith by which the righteous
live.
It has become
fashionable in Christian circles to speak of "challenging" our faith.
The concept seems to be that the Christian is to announce what he would like to
see happen and then, if he can summon the faith, God will do what he has asked.
We are exhorted to think "big" because God is a "big God."
We are encouraged to be aggressive in our "faith."
We are not certain there
is merit in this approach. We do not see it in the Scriptures. The Scriptures
are a record of God speaking to men, and of men demonstrating their faith by
doing what God commanded them to do. The people described in the eleventh
chapter of Hebrews showed their faith by being obedient to God, not by
imagining some large enterprise and then attempting to exercise
"faith" so God was compelled to do what they supposed was beneficial.