The following verse doesn’t just speak about creation. It speaks to every valley we walk through, every moment when affliction clouds our vision and we’re tempted to measure reality by what we see rather than what God has said.

Hebrews 11:3 (BSB) declares, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

Affliction tests faith, doesn’t it? When you’re suffering, the world becomes small—shrunk down to the pain in your chest, the confusion in your mind, or the emptiness in your soul. And in those moments, the question rises: Can I still trust what I cannot see? Hebrews 11:3 reminds us that faith isn’t anchored in what is visible, but in the unseen command of God—the same word that once brought the heavens into being, and still holds all things together.

The verse points us back to creation, not as an abstract theology, but as a living example of how God works. Think of it—everything you can touch, all the beauty of earth and sky, came into existence not from something already present, but from the sheer will and word of God. So when affliction makes your life feel like a void, like chaos without form, remember this: God is still able to speak light into darkness. He doesn’t need visible materials. He doesn’t need good odds or hopeful signs. He just speaks—and it becomes.

That’s the heart of faith in trial. It looks at the silence and the suffering and says, “Even here, God’s word is true. Even now, He is working.” The author of Hebrews isn’t merely offering a history lesson. He’s inviting us to trust that the same God who created the universe out of nothing can sustain and redeem our lives in the furnace of affliction.

The world teaches us to believe only in what we can see, to build hope on what’s tangible. But Scripture calls us higher. Faith is not a blind leap, but a settled conviction that God’s unseen purposes are more real than our temporary pain. So when the darkness deepens and you feel like you’re slipping, remember this verse. Go back to the beginning—remember the God who formed galaxies with a word, and who still speaks peace over storm-tossed souls.

How does this speak to you in your present circumstances? Have you been tempted to interpret your trial by what you see, rather than by what God has said? Take time to remember His voice, the one that forms reality not from what is, but from what He wills.

Cross References:
Romans 4:17 – “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 – “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”