What is faith? What does it look like? I love it that God is a visual teacher. He understands our nature. In the Old Testament there are five Hebrew words that are pictures of faith. They aren’t translated with the word “faith,” but they give us word pictures of what faith looks like in the heart of a woman in the heart of any person.
The first one is the word “amen.” We say that at the end of a prayer. We say that when we agree with something that someone is talking about. And we say it because “amen” means “I believe it.” And this is the most basic, foundational kind of faith. It pictures something that you lean on for support, as if an old man would be leaning on a stick for support. This is most often translated in Scripture, “believe.” Genesis 15:6, Abraham “… believed in the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” And Psalm 199:66, “Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.” Believing in God. Believing in His word. Can we even hope to live a legacy of faith if we don’t believe God’s Word? We must stand on His promises. They are the crutch of our life. They are iron lung. They are what hold us together, what guides us, what teaches us the word of God. I believe it. “Amen faith” leans on the truths of God’s Word.
The next word is the word “shalak”. “Shalak,” it’s the picture of casting something away from you to throw off a heavy burden. Psalm 55:2 says, “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” There are so many burdens that we have of our own and as we mingle with others, we pick up on their burdens as well. But this says that we “cast them far from us.” We hurl them away. And why does it tell us to do this? Because Jesus knows how to deal with those burdens, and we don’t. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ” So to be a woman of faith and to leave a legacy of faith, we have to learn how to do that. Because if we constantly carry those burdens on our own, we can’t solve them on our own. We can’t change them or fix them on our own. God doesn’t intend us to carry those things.
The third word for faith is “casah”, and means “to seek refuge, to flee for protection.” The word casah is used 24 times in the Book of Psalms. Psalm 57:1 “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You. And in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by.” And Ruth 2:12, “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” We live in a dangerous world, but Christ is our refuge. He is always there for us to flee to Him. “Casah faith” is the kind of faith that conquers fear, because it trust in God’s protection.
And then we have the word “yaqal.” And this is most often translated “to hope in the Lord.” It is a faith that trusts an extreme pain and that trusts under pressure. It’s a picture of applying a bandage to a wound and knowing that it will heal. And in Lamentations chapter three, Jeremiah had watched the distruction of his beloved city, Jerusalem, and his soul was writhing in pain, extreme pain, until he found his hope in the Lord. He said, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have …” ‘yaqal.’ “… Therefore I have hope. The Lord’s loving kindness is never cease. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.” Life is not only dangerous, life hurts. And sometimes it hurts really, really bad. We have to hope. We have to believe that He is faithful. And that is “yaqal faith.”
And then the strongest Hebrew word for faith is “qawah.” This is often translated “wait on the Lord. ”This word was originally used for the process of making rope by taking small strands or threads of cord, and weaving them together into a rope that cannot be broken. If I know one principle of God’s Word, my faith is only this strong. But if I know ten, my faith has gotten ten times stronger, and if I know a thousand, my faith has gotten a thousand times stronger. Because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” And so we take all of these principles and these promises, and we weave them together, and we begin to understand God, who He is. We begin to understand His plan and His care for us, His calling on our life and our faith becomes stronger. That’s “qawah faith.” “They that wait on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not faint.” We don’t want to be walking around the barnyard like a chicken, looking at the ground and pecking at little grains. We want to soar above this earth like eagles. That’s “qawah faith.” And that’s what we want.
Watch the entire lesson here: https://basictraining.org/legacy