Recently I felt inclined to look at this chapter
differently. Instead of focusing on the
part about faith, I was drawn to one of the last verses of this chapter, verse
39: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been
promised…”
How many times had I read this
verse, yet not noticed something so significant. NONE received what had been promised.
It reminds me of a song that I
love by Kutless, “Even If.” The chorus
goes like this:
“Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God, you are good
Forever faithful One
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come.”
You can almost look at the faith
chapter as a record of things that didn’t happen. “They did not receive
the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,
admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”
Although this portion of the Bible contains a lot of things that happened because of faith, there were also unimaginable sufferings: “Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.” (verses 36-38).
Can I say the same thing? Even if…my prayers don’t get answered the way I would like.
Even if…my world falls apart.
Even if…I lose everything that matters to me.
Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him…(Job 13:15)
THIS is what faith is really about. It isn’t about trusting when all is going well. It is trusting when it isn’t. What a challenge this is to me.
It has been nearly a year since I have blogged here. There are several reasons that I laid this aside. Perhaps another time I will share but for now...I am back.
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