Perhaps the Most Beautiful, Touching, Profound Comment about Faith I Have Ever Read

A dear friend whom I admire greatly shared the following last year in an electronic conversation.  I copied it at the time and decided to post it today.  It is one of the most profound comments on faith I have read - ever - in my entire life: 

Regarding faith, I would point out that faith includes, by very definition, a degree of uncertainty. It is hope in the absence of knowledge.

I would also talk about Exodus 33:18-21. Moses asks to see God's glory. God says He will pass by while obstructing Moses' view but that Moses will see His back. Some translations indicate that it wasn't God's "back" but "where God had been".

I think this is a beautiful description of faith. Few of us see God. But we can see where He has been in our lives, in our world, and in our own hearts.

I've seen the footprints of God beside those labored shuffles of mourning families as they make that difficult trek back to a waiting black car from a graveside service. I've felt the warmth His hands have left on the shoulders of a prison inmate sobbing at the realization of the suffering caused by selfish acts. I've breathed His scent overwhelming the stale air of shantytowns where poverty, disease, and desperation would otherwise choke out goodness and hope. I've felt the cool breeze in His wake as the cleansing morning of forgiveness dawns on a penitent sinner. I've felt the hem of His garment as by their faith He has healed sick bodies and through their illness He has exalted tender souls. I've seen His reflection in the eyes of those who weep for the suffering, those who show compassion for society's outcasts, and those who gently bind up the broken.

Because I can see where God has been, I live in the hope that there is a better world awaiting all those who are willing to follow His footsteps into the forsaken places where He is so actively at work.

Because I can see where God has been, I am unable to turn away from the sick, imprisoned, hungry, thirsty, and naked.

Because I can see where God has been, I walk by faith that my small efforts to shadow His path will eventually bring us face to face.