Faith that Pleases God (part 2): Tangible Reassurances

Hebrews 11:6,8

Faith that pleases God is characterized by a firm belief that God is who he says he is (part 1). It also steps into the unknown, believing obedience is worth the risk.
Psychologists tell us that young people tend to be impulsive because their brains have not fully developed the means to see the long view. As we grow we learn to count the cost of actions before we take them. The painful consequences from youthful risk tend to work against us as we grow older. The question enters, are we willing to trust God without tangible reassurances?
Andrew (my 7 year old) and I were in the back yard the other day and he asked me to help him up into a tree. I placed him on a branch and watched him cautiously move up to a fork between three branches. He enjoyed the view for a while explaining to me the virtues of tree-house building and why it was essential for us to begin as soon as possible. After finishing his discourse he prepared to dismount. With wide eyes he jumped into my outstretched arms shouting "wow!" as I caught him.
I thought for a while about that scene later in the day. I asked myself how a typical adult would have handled the situation. Adults would have been much more reluctant to jump without first asking the person on the ground to gather up six or seven other people from the neighborhood and have them jump from the branch first. If most of them landed safely then they would consider jumping based on the logic of the numbers.
But friends, God does not work that way. A prime example is Abraham (vs. 8),

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

 The reason he did not know where he was going was because God did not tell him. The point in these two verses is that if we have to know the outcome before we act we are not people of faith. We are promised rewards for faithfulness, but we cannot see them. We are promised that God will supply all our needs, so we need not worry (Phil. 4:19). Do you trust God?
John Piper says that the power to risk is in the promise of God. Do you believe his promises? You can say you believe all you want, but unless you jump off the branch you are only fooling yourself.