“Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 CSB)
Devotional
So here’s the part we usually skip past: this verse isn’t asking you to feel certain. It’s asking you to keep drawing near.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God” can land hard if you’ve ever wondered whether your faith measures up. Maybe you’ve had seasons where belief felt more like a decision than a feeling, where you weren’t sure God was listening, where the questions outnumbered the answers. If that’s you, I need to say this to myself as much as to you: this verse was never about having flawless certainty.
Look at what faith actually requires here. Not perfect confidence. Two things: believing that God exists, and believing that he rewards those who seek him. That’s it. It’s less a finish line and more a direction you’re facing. The person drawing near doesn’t need to already have arrived. They just need to be someone who keeps showing up, keeps seeking, keeps believing God is real and that seeking him isn’t wasted effort.
I think a lot of us quietly disqualify ourselves here. We assume real faith looks like the people who seem to have it all figured out, and since we don’t feel that way, we hold back from drawing near at all. But this verse was written for people in the middle of the seeking, not people who already found everything.
If your faith today looks more like showing up with your questions than showing up with your certainty, that’s still the kind of faith that draws near to God. He rewards those who seek him, not those who already have it all solved.
Reflection
I’ve mistaken doubt for disqualification more than once. I want to remember that seeking God, even with unanswered questions, is exactly the kind of faith he’s looking for.
Prayer
Father, we don’t always come to you with certainty, but we want to keep seeking you anyway. Thank you for rewarding those who draw near, even when we’re still working through our doubts. Keep drawing us closer. Amen.