Day 14

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”  — HEBREWS 11:1-2

For the most part, we live in a very comfortable environment. No one’s going to raid our homes and lock us up. We have enough food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. Everything’s comfortable, but again and again, God does His best work in people who have exhausted their own resources and seek Him for answers.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  

Many of the characters in Hebrews 11 did not escape conflict and tragedy, but they did persevere in their faith. Their experiences range from bearing children in very old age to being swept into heaven, escaping death. The common denominator of all who were commended as righteous and pleasing to God was their steadfast faith in Him.

In the sphere of our everyday lives, if we’re earnestly looking for God, we’re going to see Him work. And it isn’t our own strategies and abilities that please Him, but our faith in Him. That means we’re going to be people whose faith sees beyond circumstances, and there isn’t any circumstance too big for God. We’re also going to be people whose faith sees beyond character, so there is no one we can write off. If there’s even a spark of a disposition of trust in God, God will look after their character.

Saul of Tarsus trusted God, but it was misplaced trust in the rules and traditions of his Jewish faith. Believing he was serving God, he became an arch enemy of the church, but on the road to Damascus, he encountered Jesus and his life was transformed. Understandably, he was sceptically received by the disciples of Jesus, but Barnabas convinced them otherwise. During the course of Paul’s missionary journeys he was flogged, stoned, beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, persecuted by his own people and in constant danger. But through it all, his steadfast faith in Christ enabled the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the Gospel of Christ to the Gentile world.

Like Paul, we need to develop a faith that sees beyond conflicts and trials. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith in God means moving beyond the physical material world, and trusting Him in every situation and in all He has called us to do.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, I look at the people in your Word who fully trusted You and am both encouraged and inspired by their faith. Through your work in them, the Gospel has survived relentless persecution and will always prevail. Make me like them, Lord. Give me a steadfast faith that endures any trial, any persecution and lives to promote the Gospel of Christ. 

TO REFLECT UPON: Make a point of reading Hebrews, Chapter 11, and make note of the many times it is by faith God is pleased and His purpose is accomplished. What measures can I take to strengthen my own faith in the midst of hardship and persecution?