The Unseen Work Of God Within YouSample

Faith Involves the Unseen

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

In the seminary newsletter Connection, Dr. Douglas Cecil, a professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, shared this insight on the Civil War: 

When Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the situation looked pretty bleak for the Confederacy. 

General McClellan’s Union force of approximately 100,000 was only five miles from Richmond. Lee was defending Richmond with a holding force of about 25,000 men out of the total Confederate strength of roughly 70,000 soldiers. However, Lee intended to “change the character of the war.” 

He led his smaller force on an offensive—known as the Seven Day campaign—until McClellan was driven back a full 25 miles from Richmond. McClellan’s retreat became affectionately known in the South as “the great skedaddle.”

After driving McClellan back from the outskirts of Richmond, Lee’s task, as he saw it, was to continue his offensive and push Union General John Pope out of northern Virginia. But that would be no easy task. McClellan, still at Lee’s front, outnumbered the Confederates even more than he had before the Seven Day campaign. Pope also had greater numbers than Lee, which could be increased if McClellan joined forces with Pope. Lee would have to “defend Richmond with one hand and strike Pope with the other.”

The odds on paper were bleak, but Lee was determined. “If you go on ciphering,” he said, “we are whipped beforehand.” Lee attacked, and three months later Washington, D.C., was being threatened as he drove two Union armies across the Potomac. Robert E. Lee’s statement about war applies to the life of faith. “If you go on ciphering, we are whipped beforehand.” 

Faith always involves the unseen. It’s the nature of faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

If we already saw the results, if we had guarantees, if we had it all figured out on our own, we would not need to trust God. But faith involves the unseen, the unknown, and the uncertain. Faith does not always seem reasonable. 

Is God calling you to do something that seems scary, something that seems too big for you? If so, trust God. Walk by faith, not by sight, and remember Robert E. Lee’s statement: “If you go on ciphering, we are whipped beforehand.”