Here is a piece I wrote for something else and I thought I would post here.

Faith is a controversial word. Many may not realize that it is, but I believe the misunderstanding of this word is where long ago the path departed. When you think about it, a small deviation can cause large gaps. The small deviation is a very small angle in the beginning. As time continues, the angle becomes larger. It never stays the same. Eventually, they become to completely different identities. This is where we are at today. Judaism and Christianity. At first, those who believed in Yeshua as the Messiah, started as a sect called The Way. Then after some time, it was called Christianity. During this period, ideas about what God's will changed. The conversation went from trust and obedience to just trust, but not fully knowing what that meant. These changes all come back to the word faith I believe. In Hebrew the word is emunah. Hebrew words tend to carry much more meaning than an English word or many others languages.

The word emunah is derived from the word aman and means to securely trust or rely upon. The word amen also is derived from aman. Emunah means firmness. I think of it like a craftsman is firm is his skill, he trusts in it. Emunah represents an active trust in God and expresses itself as loyalty to His will. In other words, Emunah is faith and faithfulness wrapped up in one word. One of the passages that comes to mind regarding what does emunah represent is James 2 where Jacob (his real name, for King James wanted his name in the Bible) speaks of faith and works. While this passage is more well known, there is another passage that presents this idea of emunah as well Hebrews 3.

Hebrews 3:6 says "But Messiah, as Son, is over God's house-and we are His house, IF we hold firm to our boldness and what we are proud to hope" (emphasis mine). One would think that what would come next is the Christian thought of faith or believe, but that is not what the author says. The author, instead, starts quoting from the Tanakh (what you may call the Old Testament).

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
"Today if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness.
There your fathers put Me to the test,
though they saw My works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked by this generation,
and I said, 'They always go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.'
As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter My rest.'" V7-11

The author clearly spells out why those in the wilderness did not go into the promise land. "Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." What is hardening your heart? "They went astray in their heart and they have not known My ways." Therefore, they will not enter God's rest. There are a lot of ideas about what does it mean to harden ones heart, but Scripture tells us how a heart is hardened.

"Thus has the Lord of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.' But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 7:9-12

In both Hebrews and Zechariah we get a picture of those going astray in their heart and not following God's ways. God is clear with each and every single prophet telling the people to circumcise your heart and follow His ways. Circumcising the heart is not a new concept from Yeshua. Circumcising your heart is trusting in God.

The author of Hebrews continues with warning those who are reading that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. That right there puts away the thought of once saved always saved, doesn't it? The author is telling those reading to not be like those in the wilderness. Do you think they didn't know God existed? After all the miracles that He performed for them, after the events at Sinai, etc. do you really think there wasn't a knowledge that God was God? An unbelieving heart is one that does not know God's ways. It is not believe that God is God and you will be saved. It is not believe Yeshua is the Messiah and be saved. This was the same throughout all the prophets:

Jeremiah 7:24 - But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 18:12 - "But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'

Proverbs 1:32 - For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

King David was known for following the Torah, for he was a man after God's own heart. He says in Psalm 18:21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Over and over again the prophets spoke out to the people trying to convince them to come back to God and to His ways. Yes, we can just perform Torah for the sake of performing Torah. That is not what God wants. That would be following the letter of the law. The spirit of the law is that you want to follow the Torah to draw closer to God.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Moses said, "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, too serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good."

If there is any question what God's will for your life is, it is that right there. We are not only told this in the Torah but also in Ecclesiastes 12:13:14:

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Back to Hebrews 3 and the author continues in verse 13 - encourage one anotherso that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As I quoted earlier from Zechariah, choosing not to follow the commandments hardens your heart. Instead the author continues "for we have become partners of Messiah, if we hold our original conviction firm until the end. As it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

Who rebelled? All who came out of Egypt with Moses. Who did not enter His rest? "Was it not to those who were disobedient"?

The chapter is concluded by "So we see that they were not able to enter in because of lack of trust" or some translations say because of unbelief. Lack of trust or unbelief it is the same. Do you see how trust and obedience go together? I am reminded of the children's song trust and obey, for there is no other way If you are to trust God then you are to obey Him. This is the concept of emunah. Faith and faithfulness. Acting on one's faith in God. If you are disobedient to God then you are not really trusting Him. His ways are the commandments. Trust and obey. Choose life.

The Hebrews author is very clear in warning the brethren of his day not to fall into the same despairs as those wandering the wilderness. One must have emunah. Faith put into action in following God's ways. Belief and obedience go hand in hand.

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

Shalom!