English Standard Version (ESV)
11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their
commendation. 3 By faith we understand
that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not
made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith
Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was
commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through
his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By
faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found,
because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having
pleased God. 6 And without faith it is
impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By
faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent
fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned
the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive
as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By
faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in
tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has
foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By
faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age,
since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore
from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the
stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all
died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them
and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers
and exiles on the earth. 14 For people
who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which
they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that
is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
has prepared for them a city.
By faith is the theme of this passage. I tried to make a short passage today but I just couldn’t do it as all of this ties together. I have probably written on this before as it is a favorite passage of mine. When we are asked to do something that we don’t feel very comfortable doing we tend to be a bit nervous even second guess ourselves. We might ask ourselves, “Was this really from God or is it my own selfish ambition that has caused me to go in a different direction?” When things get tough we might say, “I knew I wasn’t suppose to do this!” or we might say, “God told me not to do this and I did it anyway.” I am not sure that God tells us not to do something, unless of course it is a blatant sin against Him, sometimes I think we use that as a crutch because we ourselves have doubt that we should do it. My take on this is that anything that we do, we do for the glory of God.
1 Peter 4:10-11English Standard Version (ESV)
10 As each
has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's
varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one
who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength
that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through
Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We also do it by
faith. Abraham had no idea where he was
going or what he was doing but he obeyed God’s direct command. We may think that would be easy, after all,
The Lord directly gave the command to Abraham (Genesis 12:1) but for most of
us, we don’t hear His direct voice.
Hmmm, have you ever argued with God in your prayers? Have you ever questioned why He allowed
certain things to happen? Have you at
times lacked faith in the direction that He has sent you? I know I can answer yes to every single one
of those questions! I don’t think it
would have been any easier for Abraham than it is for us but yet he obeyed and
he went by faith.
All of the people
mentioned in this passage had a higher calling than the things of this
earth. Maybe everything we learn on this
journey is just a preparation of things to come. If we only hold on to the here and now and do
not look towards the future homeland, we can become distraught, discouraged,
and quite frustrated. If we look at this
time as a time to grow closer to the Lord through any difficulties we might
face, we can find joy in the journey.
Seek Him and know that whatever decisions (such as career moves,
relocation, etc.) we make in this life , God has our back and we need to give
Him all the Glory.
There are better days
ahead and soon we will forget what was behind us and we will see Him face to
face. Seek Him and know that He is in
control and take courage, by faith, have hope and the assurance of a better
forever.
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
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