The Strength of Faith
The book of Hebrews is a letter sent to suffering Jewish Christians who wanted to let go of their Christianity and return to their original Jewish faith.
We come now to chapter 11. The writer says that faith has purchased for us our ticket to a ‘better country’ – the same ‘better country’ Old Testament saints longed for – a rich and full relationship with God now, along with full rights of citizenship in God’s ‘better country.’
Faith is the ‘substance’ of these things, the title deed that guarantees they belong to us. Faith is the tangible evidence that they’re ours. Faith makes us absolutely certain of things that our eyes haven’t yet seen.
God has always honoured men and women with faith in Him – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses. Each faced impossible odds and each continued to trust God regardless.
Sometimes God’s people died before seeing what they were believing for become a tangible reality. It clearly takes more faith to hold onto God in trust when we know our life is about to end and the things we’re believing for haven’t yet come to pass. But this is faith’s strength. It takes more faith to die without seeing the fulfilment of what we’re believing for and still not waver, than to see it come to pass.
Some conquered by faith while others were conquered – but still hung onto God. It’s natural for us to see faith as what gets us out of trouble, but in the Bible, faith got some into trouble. Faith can save some from death and others only face death because of their faith. God loves and honours faith.
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