If Ye have Found Faith – Sunday, November 30, 1952
We often hear of the quality of faith—faith in God, faith as an antidote to fear, faith for a future that cannot be foreseen, faith as a sustaining force in misfortune and sorrow and uncertainty, faith in eternal plan and purpose and in limitless personal progress and everlasting reunion with those we love, faith in “the substance . . . of things not seen”1 which are true.
But what is this faith that is so freely referred to? It is not as certain knowledge as of things that we can physically feel and see and taste and touch. If it were, it would not be faith. It is trust, belief, conviction; an inner sense and assurance—a principle and power which prevents the uncertainty of the future from destroying the peace and purpose of the present; which brings comfort in sorrow, and sweet sleep-in uncertainty.
We read that faith “is the gift of God.”2 But if a man feels that he hasn’t the gift of faith, must he merely sit by and envy those who have, and endure the sense of loss and loneliness and the susceptibility to cynicism, and the feeling of frustration that are so frequently the lot of those who live without faith? Fortunately, the prospect is not so unpromising—not even for those who feel that they haven’t faith, not even for those who are skeptical and discouraged.
All of us live more by faith than we sometimes suppose and in all of us there is a live spark of faith that may only require kindling, no matter how faint it sometimes seems. Anciently these words were uttered to some who were searching for faith: “But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties . . . and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you. . .. Then … ye shall reap the rewards of your faith.”3
The sentence suggests restatement: Even if you can do no more than desire to believe, let this desire work within until there is an awareness within of a growing gift of faith that gives strength and comfort and peace and sweet assurance—”sweet above all that is sweet … and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled.”3 Blessed are ye if ye have found faith.
1Hebrews 11:1
2Ephesians 2:8
3Book of Mormon, Alma. 32:27, 43, 42
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, November 30, 1952, 11:00 to 11.30 a.m., Eastern Time. Copyright, 1952
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November 30, 1952
Broadcast Number 1,215