Greeting Distant Promises

DAILY BYTE

There is another vital recognition that the author of Hebrews 11 teaches (and in fact bases much of the chapter upon). Faith, we are told in verse one, is a conviction of things not seen, an assurance of things hope for.

For many South Africans, times are pretty hard. Many are tired, disillusioned, fearful and struggling to keep on hoping. There is financial pressure, crime fears and corruptions stories – that same old same old really.

It seems the original audience that Hebrews 11 was written for were also living in difficult and violent times that offered them only minimal security – most especially because they faced persecution for their faith. So the author of Hebrews 11 was trying to encourage them to see beyond the difficulties of the present moment in a way that would enable them to deal with those difficulties in a more life-giving way.

I love the phrase towards the end of the passage, where the author mentions that many of these heroes died without fully receiving the promises of God, and yet they saw them from a distance and ‘greeted them’ (verse 13).

That is a beautiful and abiding description of what it means to have faith – that we can trust God even when there is no supporting evidence – even when our lives are in a total mess, our prayers are seemingly unanswered and we are hanging on only by our fingernails. We are encouraged by the memories of these ‘heroes’ who were distinguished not by their own personal brilliance or ability, but simply because they chose to trust God no matter what, because they refused to give up on the goodness of God and his promises to them. Their faith allowed them to greet those promises even when distant – and so those promises sustained and inspired them nevertheless.

This reminds us that faith is essentially an ATTITUDE about life. It means that faith helps us to see life in a way that we could not or would not before. It means that faith helps us to hold onto what is truly important when the rest of life weighs us down.

In one of his books, John Killinger, describes a busy airport late one afternoon. People were scurrying to meet their schedules and make their flight connections. Tempers were on edge and nerves were frayed. Suddenly, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, a loud voice erupts, exclaiming, “Good work, God!”

Nearly everyone turned to find an old woman in a wheelchair. Her gaze was directed out of a large glass window at the majestic sunset lighting up the sky. Smiles broke out on many faces, and some airline passengers began to walk with a renewed bounce in their steps. The entire atmosphere of the place was transformed by this woman’s observation, “Good work, God!”

That’s faith. Faith helps us to see life a little differently and to look beyond the evidence of today’s bad news to the promise of God’s Good News beyond ... a Good News that promises to transform how we live today.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Holy God, help me to keep trusting in you even when my life falls apart and nothing goes right. Help me to keep hold of your promise to never let go of me and to always work your loving grace into my life. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Hebrews 11: 1-3 & 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old--and Sarah herself was barren--because he considered him faithful who had promised Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.