Sunday, August 20, 2023

An Encouraging Word for the Moment

 Wednesday, August 26, 2015

 

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.”  (Heb. 11:1).  Many folks can quote that verse but tend to stop short when quoting; the following words add power and credibility, “For by it the men of old were commended (gained approval)’

 Hey Gang, I believe God put that special chapter in the Bible to show us that all of those mentioned had one thing in common, they were just like you and me and had their times of discouragement.  In it we find a listing of God’s hero’s and what they did in their lives for God through faith.  It opens up with these words, “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”.

 Is that not a neat promise from God? When we are obedient and place Him in the driver’s seat of our lives we are ‘commended’.  God was commending the people of this passage.  In essence I believe He was praising them.  Wow! Is that not a neat promise to the sheep of His pasture that obedience is rewarded by praise from the throne room of heaven!

 As a child I listened to the Sunday School stories of Moses, David and all the miracle workers of the Bible, taught by Ada Holliway, my teacher. I believed those heroes of the Bible were perfect in every way.  And after seeing Charlton Hesston’s powerful role as Moses in the Ten Commandments, there was no question that I could never live up to his example. 

 But one day the light came on in my brain and I realized that Moses had doubts and even argued with God as to his worthiness to be God’s leg man in leading the children of Israel out of bondage.  Did he not lose it and kill an Egyptian and strike the stone in the wilderness?  In other words, was he not just like me.

  And then there is the story of David, a shepherd boy, who stood before the mighty Goliath and shouted, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God” (I Sam 17:26).  The same David that stole another man’s wife and then tried to cover his sin by killing her husband.  The same David who was “a man after God’s own heart”.

 Abraham and Sarah had doubts when God told them they would have a bambino in their quiver, even in their very old age.    Sarah’s response? She laughed.  Do you think they had doubts?  Isaac lied.  He also said that his wife was his sister.  He did that because he was in a foreign country and did not want the king to kill him and take his wife. 

 Sampson had a problem with immorality. Jephthah said things before he thought them out which resulted in the loss of his daughter.  Samuel and Eli had big time problems with their kids.

 The point! Each had doubts and sins and struggles and problems, just like that person who stares at you each morning from the bathroom mirror.  I just want to suggest to you that these were normal everyday variety of people just like us.   

 Notice verse 32 “What more shall I say, I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Heb. 11:32-34).

 Then verse thirty-eight goes on to say, “The world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground”.  Although they were commended for their faith none of them received what had been promised.”  (vs.38-39).

 Soooo, God begins this passage by telling us they were commended and ends it in like manner.  They were just like you and me, but they were commended by God. 

 Blessings,

 Gramps

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