A Heart of Faith

Sometimes you stare at what you can see. The bill. The test result. The thing that didn't work out. And you think that's the last word.

But what if what you can see isn't the whole picture at all?

Our own band, Åbenlovsang, has just written a new song. It's called "A Heart of Faith." The chorus goes like this:

The lines from “A heart of faith” are not reproduced here — listen to the song by ÅbenLovsang via the link in the article.

Notice the names in the verses: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Rahab, Moses, David. That's no accident. It's the whole faith chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 11, set to music.

And it starts with a question: What is faith, really?

"What is faith? Faith is the foundation of our hope, a conviction about things that cannot be seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that faith is understanding. It doesn't say that faith is feeling something strongly. It says: a conviction about things that cannot be seen.

In 1961 the Soviet Union sent the first cosmonaut into space. When he came back down, he was quoted as saying he'd seen no sign of God out there. A few years later, the American astronaut John Glenn sat in his spacecraft and said the exact opposite: "I saw God everywhere." Same space. Same darkness. Two completely different reports. One set of eyes could see only the visible. The other could also see the invisible.

That's what faith is. Seeing what cannot yet be seen.

That's how they all were. Noah built a boat in dry weather while the neighbors laughed. Abraham left home without an address. Rahab had the worst starting point in town and one of the strongest faith stories in the whole chapter. David stood with a sling in front of a giant and saw what no one else in the army could see. None of them saw the whole picture. They saw only the next step. But they walked, because they kept the Invisible One in view.

That's exactly what the song prays for. Not more proof. Not more that can be seen. Just one thing: a heart of faith.

I dag klokken 11 prædiker jeg om det i Åbenkirke. Kan du ikke være med i huset, så følg gudstjenesten på livestream her: https://www.youtube.com/@ÅbenkirkeKBH/streams

Og hør "Hjerte af tro" her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYz6s6ZSIQo. Lyt hele vejen igennem, og mærk efter, hvad der sker i dit hjerte, mens du synger med.

What could become visible in your life if you dared to believe the invisible before you see it?