Ever get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that tells you that all is hopeless and lost– that everything you worked for may not come to fruition because the circumstances you are facing tells you that the fight you are fighting is not going to end well? I’m sure you’ve had that feeling in the pit of your stomach before.

Perhaps, you’re having that feeling right now as you read these words. I want you to read the verses below if you’ve had that feeling, are fighting that feeling, or will need to fight the feeling I’m describing.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

The question we have to ask ourselves is why would the writer of the Hebrews have to write this? It is simple: the lives of the very people reading this passage reflected a reality that chopped their faith down at the very foundation of its formation. More simply, people were having a difficult time reconciling the promises of God and how their lives were shaking out. I know as a fact that my life, and I’m a professional Christian, doesn’t quite always shake out the way God promises when I experience it. I’m really sure yours doesn’t either.

If it did we might actually be in heaven and not living life on earth, if you get my drift. When we are shaken and challenged by our experiences we need to dig deeper and believe with greater conviction of the promises God is proposing.

The rest of Hebrews 11 lists the people and circumstances of Old Testament figures trying to wrestle with their reality and the belief they had in God when they started.

The conclusion is that these people lived with full conviction that God will come through, and then they died. This means that none of them received what was promised to them, and yet this was their commendation.

If that is the truth of the matter, what hope do we have, not even having Biblical level faith, that when we hold onto a conviction unseen, that our lives will be meaningful?

Our hope is Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. He was so convicted of our potential that he walked among us and then died for us.

Then, to make the point that death isn’t the end, he was raised to glory by the Father.

This is the unseen conviction we need to live life with– that it will all be worth it and that everything God promises will come to fruition. Walk convicted of the unseen.