Tag: 2 Corinthians 5:7

WILLIAM KILLIAN

There is a quiet peril in trusting only what your eyes can measure. We navigate the physical world admirably enough, reading hunger, sensing danger, smelling smoke before we see the flame. These senses are gifts, marvellous and necessary. Yet they were never designed to carry the full weight of our most consequential decisions.

Consider Lot, Abraham’s nephew, standing at a crossroads with the whole of the land before him. He lifted his eyes, surveyed the Jordan Valley, and saw what any reasonable person would see: lush, well-watered ground, rich as the garden of Eden, fertile as Egypt along the Nile. By every natural measure, it was the obvious choice, the sensible choice. And it destroyed him.

He journeyed east, incrementally, almost imperceptibly, from camping near Sodom, to residing in Sodom, to leading within Sodom, until judgment rained down and everything he had built by sight lay in ashes. The text does not spare us the commentary: the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

How often do we perform our own version of this same calculation? We weigh salary, location, opportunity, and comfort, factoring in everything visible and measurable, while the unseen promises of God gather dust in the corner of our thinking.

Faith is not the absence of wisdom; it is wisdom’s completion. It incorporates what the eye cannot reach, what the senses cannot verify, what only the word of God can illuminate.

Abraham, by contrast, rested in promise rather than prospect. He did not need the best land because he trusted the God who owns all land.

 for we walk by faith, not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7

AMY TURNER

In Genesis 26:1-2, the Bible tells of a severe famine that struck the land. It was not the first time such hardship had come; a famine had also happened in Abraham’s lifetime. During this crisis, Isaac went to the region of Gerar, where Abimelech, the Philistine king, ruled. There, God spoke directly to Isaac, telling him not to travel to Egypt for relief but to remain where God would guide him.

This instruction called for great faith. Staying in a place where food was scarce and survival uncertain was not an easy choice. For Isaac, remaining in the land meant risking his safety and that of his family. Yet, he obeyed because he trusted that God’s direction was better than his own understanding.

Real trust in God often asks for courage. It means believing that God will honour His promises even when there is no visible proof or clear path forward. Faith does not always lead to comfort, but it leads to a deeper reliance on the One who never fails. When life feels uncertain and choices seem risky, holding on to God’s word is the most secure place to be.

for we walk by faith, not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7