God wants us to believe in Him (John 8:24). In fact, unless we have faith in His existence, we cannot be saved (Hebrews 11:6). We have faith in God, but He also has faith in us. Sometimes He believes more in us than we believe in ourselves.

GOD BELIEVED IN ABRAHAM. God said of this father of the faithful: "For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment…" (Genesis 18:19). Almighty God believed enough in Abraham to go out on a limb and say that his children and grandchildren would be trained in the way of truth. He was right! Isaac (his son), and Jacob (his grandson), believed in God and followed in the paths of Abraham. In fact, the nation of Israel-with minor lapses-continued in the faith that once rested in the bosom of their progenitor.
GOD BELIEVED IN JOB. Satan suspended his pursuit of mankind long enough to "report" before Jehovah (Job 1:6). "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (1:8). God issued a challenge to the old serpent by insisting he would have no success with Job. God believed in Job. He knew he would not let him down. And, Job withstood the worst onslaught of devilish torture recorded in the annuals of Adam's race. He did not "curse God and die," as his wife had pled with him to do (2:9). God believed in Job, and Job believed in God.
GOD BELIEVED IN RAHAB. Rahab was not exactly a role model for kids (Joshua 2:1-6). She was the type of person that people whispered about, pointed at, and shunned. They would not have trusted her with their reputations, must less their children, or wallets. She had been a woman of loose morals and unflattering character. To put it frankly, she was a prostitute (harlot Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25) [Some translate this as "innkeeper," but the word used in the New Testament (porna) means "prostitute."]. She had sold her body to men who passed through her city and stayed at her inn. During these pagan times, harlotry was often a part of worship. [Even after she ceased from this behavior, the reproach stuck to her name. Simon the leper (Matthew 26:6), though cleansed from leprosy, wore the reproach of it in his name as long as he lived; so Rahab the harlot, so called in the New Testament, though both her faith and her good works are praised. Even those that through grace have repented of the sins of their youth must expect to bear the reproach of them (Matthew Henry)]. Second, Rahab was a traitor. She betrayed her country by harboring its enemies. [Under normal conditions, we count traitors as the most despicable of criminals, but in Rahab's case, if she knew God had given Canaan to the Israelites, she could not have hindered them from possessing it. The higher duty to God suspends the lower duty to country and to family (cf. Acts 5:29)]. Third, Rahab was a liar. She said the spies had left when they were hiding on her roof. Some use this as an example of situation ethics (cf. Romans 3:8), but God never approves of lying (Proverbs 6:17; Ephesians 4:25). He could have protected the spies in a way that did not require sin. Rahab was accepted in spite of her lie, not because of it. Other Bible characters are complimented, though guilty of serious sins (e.g., David committed adultery, 2 Samuel 11). Many of those who are commended in Hebrews eleven are not praised for all they did (Abraham lied; Noah got drunk; Samson committed fornication). They are praised simply for some heroic act of faith. We may heartily commend an orator for eloquence, while earnestly opposing his ideas. Being a Canaanite she may not have been taught that lying was evil.
In spite of all this, God believed in Rahab. He pardoned her iniquity. He was willing to forget her previous life and forgive her falsehood regarding the spies. He saw something good in this "washed-up harlot." He believed she had changed and that there was something worthwhile about her. What God liked about her was her faith and works. In Hebrews she is eulogized for her faith, and in James for her works. Remarkably, Rahab was eventually listed in the genealogy of God's Son (Matthew 1:5). God allowed this formerly loose woman to marry into Israel-His chosen, holy people-and become the mother of a child. Some writers speculate that Salmon (her husband) was one of the spies she befriended; if so, what a beautiful love story! Rahab became a princess in Israel and, more importantly, became a part of the line that ran from Abraham through King David to Jesus Christ. Matthew, in giving the Lord's genealogy, mentions only four women-Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and implicitly, Bathsheba. Three of these have tainted names. Most people would be embarrassed to have harlots and adulteresses in their family tree and would certainly keep it "hush-hush." If it was in their power, they would never have allowed them to have been there in the first place. It was within God's power, but He believed in Rahab to the point that He put her in His family album!
GOD BELIEVED IN PETER. Peter cursed and swore that He did not know Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 26:72). After Jesus had been his friend, after he taught him for three years, even after Peter had boasted that he would die before he would deny, Peter blushed at a maiden's question. He pretended he had never met Jesus and backed that affirmation with profanity (which always disassociates one from Christ). Afterward, Peter wept as a penitent child. He was sorry for his failure. God could have given up on Peter. He could have found someone else to be the "apostle to the circumcision," but God still believed in Peter. And, when it came time to pick somebody to be the head spokesman for Christ on the inauguration of the church, God tapped Peter to be the one to deliver the stirring speech that launched the Gospel dispensation (Acts 2).
GOD BELIEVED IN SAUL. "…the Lord said…he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Everybody else saw the church's worst enemy; God saw its greatest promoter. Others saw one who could dish out persecution; God saw one who could take it. They saw a blasphemer; God saw a preacher. They saw a murderer; God saw a missionary.
These instances show that God believes in us sometimes when others (or even ourselves) don't. Those who faithfully serve and suffer for Him He will not only protect, but prefer, and will do for them more than they can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). God can use people who have made mistakes. We read of publicans and harlots entering into the kingdom, and not just tolerated, but welcomed (Matthew 21:31). Those on Pentecost had killed Jesus, but they became the first Christians (Acts 2). The Corinthians had been immoral, but God forgave them (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Believe in God. Let God believe in you.-P.O. Box 520, Jacksonville, AL 36265