Faith is a many splendoured experience that comes in various forms. Sometimes faith is knowing something deep inside that you just know to be true. Sometimes faith is more like a hunch or an intuition. Sometimes faith is borne from past experience, such as knowing that the light will come on if I turn the switch. Sometimes (often in fact) faith is a form of trust, such as following a course of medication or having a vaccine because we trust the medical science.
Spiritual faith is trusting in the goodness and loving kindness of God even when our situation or circumstances may suggest that we are all alone in the world, forgotten by God. In the ‘Hall of faith’ chapter in Hebrews 11, there is a list of famous people of faith from the Scriptures placed alongside another list of unnamed people of faith who suffer misery and persecution. All are commended for their faith, which suggests that having faith is no guarantee that life will be easy and, conversely, that suffering is not caused by a lack of faith.
The passage then encourages us to persevere in our own ‘race’ of faith in the light of this multitude of both ‘successful’ and ‘suffering’ forms of faith. In this race we are encouraged to persevere through the hard times that will inevitably come our way at some stage or other, focusing especially on the example of Jesus who is the beginning and end of our life of faith, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). As we know, Jesus endured great shame and agony on the cross, but then experienced joy. We can expect to experience similar challenges – and joys – as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who is the source and inspiration of our faith.