I love reading from
Hebrews chapters 10 through 12. Chapter
11 has often been referred to as the “Faith Hall of Fame.” The Bible characters and their acts of faith
mentioned here are an encouragement to me now; but I must admit that was not
always so. I used to be intimidated by these
Biblical heroes.
When I was younger,
the remarkable stories of these characters often left me feeling that I could
never measure up. They did such great
things for God! Things I knew I would
never be able to do. But as I got older
and studied each character in more detail, I began to realize that these people
were just people who allowed God to use them.
They were ordinary folks like me and you. They were not perfect. Sometimes they messed up things too.
Think about some of
the people mentioned and it is not difficult to understand what I mean. Abraham was called to go out not knowing
where he was going, (Hebrews 11:8-9) and Sara received strength to conceive
(verse 11). Before she had Isaac though,
Sara had become impatient and tried to bring about God’s promise herself by
giving Abraham her handmaid. Instead of
putting his foot down, Abraham agreed.
This action ended up causing both of them plenty of heartache.
Isaac and Jacob are
both mentioned in this chapter, but they both played favorites with their sons
and suffered heartache for doing so.
Moses became one of the greatest
leaders of God’s people ever, yet he offered excuse after excuse before he
finally answered God’s call. Rahab lived
a wayward life before she recognized God as the one true and living God. And then look at those mentioned in verse 32
– Gideon – tested God. Barak would not
go to battle unless Deborah would go with him.
Samson had a weakness for the wrong women. Jepthae made a careless vow that cost him
greatly. David – sinned with Bathsheba
and Samuel had rebellious sons.
It is not my purpose here is to
point out the bad in these people. They
were still truly great people of God.
The point I am trying to make is that God forgives anyone who seeks to
be forgiven and uses anyone – ANYONE – who is willing to be used in His
kingdom. If we love Him and are willing
to give our lives to Him, then He will forgive us for our past and even forgive
us when we stumble along The Way. More
importantly, even though we mess up – He can and will use us for His glory if
we allow Him to. God is rich in mercy
and abundant with His grace. He loves to
magnify the works of those who seek Him and do His will!
These people are mentioned to
encourage us in our daily walk with God.
The writer of Hebrews illustrates to us that these great people of faith
acted for God in faith believing His promise.
His promise of what, you may ask? It was the promise of His blessing ALL nations. It was God’s promise of the coming Messiah
and the established of the “kingdom that would never be destroyed.” Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David –
none of them ever got to see Jesus on earth.
They never got to experience the kingdom of God (the church) on
earth.
We were not alive when Jesus was
here, but we can read of His life and ministry.
We know that the kingdom has come.
We have the promise that the church will never be destroyed. The church is for anyone and everyone who is
willing to obey the Word. We are the
recipients of not only Christ’s blood; but of the blessings that have come our
way through the faith of our fathers.
Wow!
The Hebrew writer is telling us not
to give up in our faith even during affliction because we have more and know
more than those who went before us. They
did not see the fulfillment of their faith, yet they never gave up. That’s the point!
God is telling us
here --Don’t give up! People who lived
before you – who lived before the promise was fulfilled – who lived before
Christ lived and then died for our sins did not give up. They lived for their God who is also our God –
the only God. They lived for Him and the
promise He made. And yet, they never really actually received the promise.
I think God wants
us to understand that these people were not super human. I think He wants us to see the whole
picture. Realizing that these people
were not perfect helps us understand that we don’t have to be perfect
either. Yes, they were ordinary people –
BUT they had a great faith in God who does great things. They lived for Him without having seen the
promise. We have more than they did
because we know Christ was the fulfillment of the promise. If they didn’t give up, we can’t give up!!
God can still do
great things through us. So don’t give
up.
Let Him use you. You will be blessed beyond measure!
Christ above all things,
Robin
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