Faith (Emuna)

I have not posted here for a while as I did not have access to the internet. I would have liked to post a lot more but had my faith tested and have come out of the tribulation with a much stronger faith and much happier!

I want to use this time to talk a bit about Emuna (Faith) as it is probably the most important aspect of our belief! “For by favour you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim, it is not by works, so that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah  יהושע  unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10). So as you can see, Faith and works (Torah observance) are interlinked. You cannot have one without the other. “But someone might say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I shall show you my faith by my works” (Jam 2:18). What Ya’aqov (James) is saying is that faith without keeping Torah is not faith at all.

One thing that we have to remember is that we are not saved by keeping Torah as we are not able to save ourselves. So then, why do we have to keep Torah?

The Torah is the instruction of YHWH for us unto righteousness. YHWH is the Government and the Torah is His Law. To live in the instruction of Torah means to live righteously. The Torah was given to us for our own good and safety! The world is in such a bad state for one reason alone, which is that the world has disregarded the torah and has made their own laws which leads to destruction and unfairness. If the world was governed by the Torah, there would be no crime or poverty or lacking of any kind. “So that the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart, and righteous, and good” (Rom 7:12)

But as we saw earlier that we are not saved by keeping Torah, but by faith. So then, what is faith (Emuna)?

The description of Emuna is: the firm belief in a single, supreme, omniscient, benevolent, spiritual, supernatural, and all-powerful Creator of the universe.

To have emuna is to understand that everything that happens to you, whether good or bad, is controlled by YHWH and ultimately for your own good and lead you back to the instruction (Torah) of YHWH.

Why do bad things happen to me?

We have all said to ourselves at least once in our lives that “why is it going so bad with me even though I am living righteously and my friend who is a terrible sinner has a great life?” Well the reason for that is, is because there are two kinds of people in this world. The first kind is a sinner that has no desire to live righteously, which is the great majority of the people in this world and also the great majority of people in the church too. The second kind of person is one who desires to do the will of YHWH, who are called the children of YHWH.

Now trials and tribulations are sent to us by YHWH when we deviate from the Instruction of YHWH even if it is just a little. The reason He sends us these tribulations is because we are His children and He desires for us to do what is right. Just as a father would punish his child because he desires that his child chooses to do what is right and stay safe. That father has no desire to do this for a child that is not his own, this is exactly why the people who are wealthy, healthy and seem to be happy, do not experience many trials. But they do not go unpunished, because ultimately they will be judged and punished for all their sin on this earth.

Now when we do experience trials, whether it be financial, physical, family issues, marriage problems or any other problems, we should not be sad or discouraged in any way. The reason for this is that if we truly have emuna, we will know that YHWH is communicating with us to make teshuva (turning back, returning, repentance) this is because we have transgressed the Torah and need to return back to the Torah (instruction unto righteousness). When experiencing trials like this, we need to examine ourselves and pray to see where we are lacking so that we can make teshuva and correct our situation.

A person who is lacking or who is in danger of any kind will more likely cry out for help than someone who needs no help. If we had everything we wanted and lived a very comfortable life, we would not have emuna as it would seem that we don’t need any help. So if we are going through some tough times, we must know that YHWH desires what is best for us and is showing us that we need to make teshuva and return back to Him. “But he who shall have endured to the end shall be saved” (Mat 24:13)

Now knowing that YHWH is putting these trials in our way to guide us unto righteousness, instead of acting out and being angry or sad, we can live a happy and fulfilling life with emuna and ultimately unto life with YHWH.