Faith

God is really on top of things. Go figure! The past few weeks, I've been struggling with the season I'm in (physically and spiritually), and have been faced with a lot of "unknowns". Being somewhat of a control freak and a "planner" personality, I've been struggling with the fact that I can't see a whole lot into my future right now.

And, cue God. What does He keep reminding me of through His word, through songs I hear on the radio, and through sermons? Faith. Because, after all, faith is "the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1) Things we cannot see. You're pretty clever, Lord.

Before this morning, I'm not sure if I had ever read Hebrews 11 all the way through. Chapters 10 and 12? Totally. But for some reason, I just had never gotten to 11. So it's interesting that today was the day I read it, maybe for the first time, considering that it's all about faith. Most of the chapter is spent recalling a lot of Old Testament events and showing that they happened because of faith. Verses 33-38 are a good sum-up: "By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of a sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death."

So these verses show all the awesome things that happened when people had faith. I guess faith is pretty great! It is. But I find the next few verses really interesting, too: "But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed by the sword."

Wait, so...what happened to faith? Why didn't these people get saved because of their faith like the others?

I believe they still did. Though the ones who were tortured and killed for Christ didn't see earthly reward for their faith, their faith in heaven was solid and was rewarded, because "they placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection." Even when things looked bad, and it didn't look like they were going to make it, these people still had faith. Perhaps not faith in getting physically rescued from their predicaments, but even stronger faith in eternal life.

There is always a reason to have faith, and His name is the Lord. Whether He chooses to reward your faith by physically rescuing you or letting you enter Paradise is up to Him.

I think the point of the entire passage from Hebrews 11 is that faith in God is never in vain. No matter the circumstances, if you have faith in your present trouble, you will be rewarded.