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Jeremiah 32:25-27  “And though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign LORD, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’”  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:  “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?”

Here is the essence of true faith.  Although Jeremiah does not appear by name in the list of ‘ancients’ ‘commended’ for their faith in Hebrews 11, he certainly is included among the ‘prophets’ who ‘administered justice and gained what was promised’, ‘whose weakness was turned to strength’, who ‘were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection’, who ‘faced jeers and flogging’, who ‘were chained and put in prison’, who were ‘destitute, persecuted and ill-treated’, and yet ‘none of [whom] received what was promised’ (see Hebrews 11:32-39).

Jeremiah was commissioned by the LORD to proclaim the TOTAL DESTRUCTION of Jerusalem and the 70-years of captivity in Babylon, and yet he was also told by the SAME sovereign LORD to BUY A PIECE OF REAL ESTATE in the condemned city!  In a similar challenge, Abram was called on to SACRIFICE [kill!] Isaac, the one who was the only possible source of any grandchildren through whom God’s promise of a great nation could be fulfilled.  Likewise, Moses was told to command the Israelites to move forward BEFORE the waters of the Red Sea parted (Exodus 14:15-22).

This is why Hebrews defines genuine faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (11:1); it is about trusting God AGAINST the evidence, simply because he has given his word – his written Word!  Sometimes we find God’s providence very perplexing – from our perspective, EVENTS don’t seem to match the PROMISES.  Are WE prepared to trust the Father who loves us so much that he sent his only Son to die for us, and who holds the future in his hands?  Are we prepared to be ‘CERTAIN of what we DO NOT SEE’?