Faith that Perseveres
Hebrews 11:39-40 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
Not everything in life turns out the way you’d hoped. Not every chapter has a happy ending. That’s life, but how are you meant to keep the faith, through bad endings? How are you meant to have hope, when things don’t turn out right?
If I had a dollar for every sermon that I’ve heard about having faith, I’d be rich. Here’s how they normally run: Be like Abraham who endured twenty-five years but got his happy ending in the end. Be like Moses, one of the greatest leaders Israel ever had. Be like … and then, the preacher rattles off a whole bunch of biblical A-listers that we’re meant to be like.
Problem is, I’m not like them, and doubtless, neither are you.
Interesting, the definitive chapter on faith in the Bible, is Hebrews 11. You know the one – without faith it’s impossible to please God. Sensational, something else to live up to. And then, it rattles off Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, and others.
The more you read about these great men and women of God and their amazing faith … the smaller, the more inadequate, your own faith seems, right?!
But then that chapter takes an interesting turn. A turn toward the ordinary, toward people with bad endings, people who suffered and didn’t receive the things they’d been hoping and praying for. It talks about people like you and me, who yes, believed in God, had faith in God, but somehow He didn’t seem to show up when we needed Him.
Others were tortured … others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35-38)
That’s real life. Those are real endings. God doesn’t always wave a magic wand and give all of His people a fairy tale ending. Okay, we know that. So, what does God say about that? What does He say about those people?
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
God holds these people in high esteem, these people of whom the world was not worthy. He commended them for their incredible faith. And in the end, He provided something much better for them. A much greater reward.
That’s real life.
And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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