John N N Ng’ang’a Meditation of December 2, 2024….Hebrews 11….faith in action
Day 1
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
You know Hebrews 11 is a beautiful chapter with many examples of faith that lasts. It is something you should be reading very often or just keep going back to because it will keep encouraging you. When you see people, who went through very difficult things but yet they continued trusting in the Lord, it will build and sustain your faith in God. They continued to trust God through thick and thin, and finally would win the battle. That’s really something that all of us should want just to see God do in us and for us.
Knowing He has helped people in the past, helps you to trust him with your problems today. He will help you in your problems today or tomorrow, whatever it is you fear. You can trust him to go into it with you. I think that’s something important for every Christian to know as we journey through life.
The whole chapter 11 is simply talking about God’s greatness in the life of his people.
In verse 1 and 2 it is talking about the definition of faith. It defines it first before giving the examples and emphasizes to you. See Hebrews 11 v 1-2
1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Thus, when you have faith, you have an assurance of what you are praying for! You can’t see it but it is a substance of something that for now you only hope for. Faith gives you this substance before you actually get it.
Sometimes you need help with something that is threatening you, or you need support through a difficult situation. It stands as a foundation from which you go and launch deep to risky operations. That is what faith does. Yes, it is an assurance, but it is also an evidence. Maybe the other word you can use to describe faith is a conviction of the things in the future which you don’t have yet.
You know, when you cross examine witnesses, to observe if their testimony is true, you look for evidence he can exhibit. The bible is saying, faith is a such evidence, which of course some people will not agree with.
Day 2
Hebrews 11
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith is so important, verse 6 says one cannot even please God without it! you have to have faith to please him, how would you please God Otherwise? That’s how you will believe that he is there in the first place.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
If you really want to be near God, you must believe he is there! You must believe what he says. You must trust his word. So, when you believe he exists, you also must believe because he hears, he answers prayers. That he rewards those who seek him. So, without faith, how do you seek God? How do you seek his will?
You know, putting his kingdom above material things, is only possible when you trust in him fully. Isn’t that what he is asking us to do in Mathew 7:23, and in Mark 13, where we are talking about selling all we have for his power, for his kingdom. You would have to have faith to do that! You have to seek God as your father because you know he is there. You will have to seek heavenly things above earthly things or, put it differently, faith will help you to seek eternal home that God has planned because you are sure it will be there!
So the chapter seeks to demonstrate that what it is describing as faith actually exist. For example, how do you accept creation? It is by faith! That’s why some people would like to look for scientific explanation. They look! and after 100 years of science the theory of evolution is still a theory because basically the only way you can tell how the earth was formed; the earth and the universe, it is by faith!
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
It says Able offered his sacrifice is the first example of somebody trusting God. That if this is what God wants, I believe in him, I will do what he wants. Abel offered his sacrifice by faith.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead
You know, the important thing is Able was obeying God because he trusted in him.
Day 3
Hebrews 11
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
What about Enoch? Enoch walked with God; and that pleased God. Again he could only do so, via faith. God is not physical, but because of his faith in God, in the process God walked with him. God actually excused him from physical death.
What about Noah? This is a man who definitely believed God for something difficult to believe about then obeyed God. Can you imagine being asked to create a structure to help you in a flood and yet you are living on dry ground. That’s why when he preached to people they didn’t take him seriously. His intentions was to save all others but only his family believed and entered the boat with the animals.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
This faith we have in God makes us trust that what God says he can do, he will do. Actually what he said then he did, and that is what saved Noah’s family! His godly fear saved himself and his family.
What about Abraham? Abraham is regarded as the father of faith. He obeyed because he trusted. It is much easier to obey once you believe God, or believe what he is telling you.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore
Abraham trusted God and in the process, he agreed to come from his home and to be a pilgrim in a foreign land with the hope one day his children will own and occupy it. That’s the whole question of faith. In verse 17-19, when God would ask him to do impossible things, he trusted God even when God doesn’t make sense. He believed God will work everything out anyway. I don’t understand how, but will certainly do it. That’s how much he trusted in God. Even his wife Sarah must have faith to believe that she can get a child although she laughed. You know, the fact that she way past menopause, made her wonder. How would anybody be talking about her getting a child? But God does not have any limitations, and she trusted him. She and her husband trusted in him. Despite the advance age of Abraham, he was able to get a child, and many children after that!
But you know something, the people who have been listed so far up to verse 12, all died believing about some things that they never experienced. This is because some of the promises of God were for much later. Like Abraham, owning Canaan never came in his time .For Canaan to come he had to be first a nation and he was not a nation yet. He died without the promise being fulfilled. Yes! He could see God’s promise from afar, like verse 13 is saying, but he never realized it. In the process they were accepting, we are a cog in God’s machinery going forward beyond our time. You are a stranger in your own home, because it will become a home for your future generation.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. 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. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
You know, these old saints however, did look or long for their home that only came later. As verse 16 says, it is because they knew they were strangers where they were.
Day 4
Hebrews 11
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,
But now let’s move over to Isaac. Isaac had his faith at his death, he blessed his sons with a view of God’s promise, because he believed what God had told Abraham and renewed to him would actually happen one day.
18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Jacob son of Isaac had his faith even at his deathbed. Look at verse 21. He blessed Joseph’s sons as his own, including them gaining his inheritance, which he didn’t have! He was a stranger in Egypt, and he believed one day it will happen. and it happened!
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
Joseph the son of Jacob had also had faith beyond his life so that at his death, verse 22 he said “I know you will finally be out of this place”. It took another 400 years for it to happen, but it happened. He acted on the basis of his faith. He made Israel promise to take his bones to Canaan when Canaan finally happens.
Can we look at this man now called Moses? Moses was brought up in two homes; one was with his mother, Jewish, and another was pharaoh’s daughter which did not believe in God.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
But it sounds like the mother established him in his faith before he left for Pharaoh’s house. So, he believed in God for life and did several acts on the basis of that faith. If you believe something you act on the basis of your faith. Isn’t that why the parents of Moses believed God. They believed God could protect the baby, they hid the child! He decided his identity by faith. He knew he wasn’t really an Egyptian.
Then, he left Egypt for safety in the wilderness. Again, this is because of his faith. He suspected his future role I guess with the eyes of faith.
Day 5
Hebrews 11
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
Later back in Egypt he obeyed God as he saw one, two, three..up to ten plagues! all based on what God would say for he knew God would do it. Look at verse 28.
Here the children of Israel all together trusted in the God of Moses enough for them to walk through the Red Sea.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
But we can also move from there to the first entrance into Canaan and the fight with Jericho. Israel again had to go around and round Jericho many times like fools, but it is because they trusted in God and the fall of Jericho happened.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
Rahab was in Jericho. she was a prostitute but she sought God as she had faith in him for her not to die while the others were dying. Verse 31 says,
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d]
Rahab the prostitute believed God, the God of the Jews, and on that basis, God kept part of the agreement and so she was saved.
Day 6
Hebrews 11
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,
Gideon who comes a little later, in the days of judges, believed God and he was able to win a battle with only 300 men, as indicated in Judges’ chapter 7.
Then Samson was protected as long as he acted in faith, Judges 13. Then David in his turn, killed a giant, because again he trusted in God’s intervention.
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 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. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.
All of God’s prophets listed had this faith anyway. You can’t say you are a godly person without faith in God. It is this faith that delivers what was promised by God. And you know what was promised may be unpopular message. Some rebuked others or gave a call to repentance, but the man of God will believe in God’s mercy always and act on it.
You know there are other people that are not listed and they are not even named anywhere in the bible. They are anonymous servants who showed faith. If you look at verse 35 to 38.
36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were not named, yet some received back their dead by this faith, some received resurrection. Look at 1st Kings 17 or 2nd Kings 4, there are people resurrecting. You can believe that a dead person can rise if God is involved, and it happened.
Others nameless went through torture, even stoning. You can see that in 2nd Chronicles 24. some were sawn in two but we don’t read that in the bible. But tradition says Isaiah was actually sawn into two. How do you allow that to happen? because you trust in God who can resurrect you or receive you in glory.
Others were killed with the sword, and the example is in 1st King 19. Some wandered about in pitiful clothes, dwelling in caves, and even in mountains and you can see the examples in 2nd Kings chapter 1.
Ask, how would they allow themselves to go through all these suffering? The reason is they believed strongly that the God they served was more important than anything they could have on earth. The world was not worthy. It was nothing. Riches, friends, none of them can compare with pleasing God. That’s why they were able to trust in him and do these great things we are listing.
So, having seen this list, shouldn’t you and me be people that ask “how come we are not exhibiting that faith?”. Yet God remains the same God. God’s promises remain the same. They are written in the bible for us. So, if anything is not happening is not because of God, for he is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is us who are not acting on that faith or even worse not having that faith!
If you look at verse 39 to 40, the bible is encouraging us to have that faith.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
It is true that despite their faithfulness, these servants did not receive what was promised but they still trusted in God. The promises happened later beyond their time, but they happened! So if you have faith even if you haven’t seen the results in this life, continue to hold on. That’s the example this people were giving us.
Day 7
Hebrews 11
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
You see, although finally the full vision does not happen like for Abraham, or Isaac or Jacob; they believed to the end. Canaan never became their home, yet they knew God will make it happen! God had not failed them, but has provided something better for us who come after them. That’s why we know we are on this better side. We have seen some of the things they died not happening. They have actually happened in our time. we have a greater picture.
You see, God has an eternal plan, and it will be ultimately be fulfilled. That is the message of Genesis 12:3 or even in Galatians 3:7-8 or Galatians 3:22-29. God does have a plan, and if we trust him, he will make it happen, through our times or even after our time. The fact that it has not happened does not in any way at all lead you to where you doubt that he intends to make it happen.
It is my prayer that even as you go through the Book of Hebrews, which we can call it faith in action, trust in God of these saints. May that help you to have faith. You know the bible says.. walk by faith not by sight. There is no need of faith once the believed event appears. But if you have faith it means you can enjoy something before it happens. This is because you know it will happen anyway. So, the life of faith is the life of peace irrespective of the situation you happen to be now, when and where. Yes, for sure, faith is the confidence on things hoped for. So you have confidence in things you have not yet seen. May the Lord help you to enjoy this life of faith and enjoy what you have and what you don’t have yet, because you know you will have it tomorrow. In the meanwhile live like you already have it.
May the Lord help us to look up to God, trust him, and enjoy his presence by faith all our life .
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