Hebrews 11:7-40

It seems unfair to summarize someone’s life in a paragraph or to depict them as a character in flannelgraph, but so goes the fame of faith. It was never about them. 

Verse 7. Noah hadn’t ever experienced the type of weather or severe judgment that God told him was ahead, but he didn’t need to have a perfect idea of what was coming before diligently spending decades of his life in preparation. God gave him enough information to commit to the task in front of him. 

I so often want to calculate every possible outcome, understand all that will be required, or draw from at least a partial experience of something before putting in effort toward obedience. But to have faith like Noah, I would begin right now with what I know, tools I have, and burdens I carry. 

Faith prepares in the present for an unclear future.

Verses 8-16. Abraham picked up and left the place he called home, not sure where he’d end up, yet certain that God had called. Even after he and his family arrived in the Promised Land, they lived like gypsies, ready to move when necessary, open-handed on their idea of home. They didn’t look back as if returning to where they came from would be the solution to the longing in their hearts. 

Moving is unnatural for me - as common as it has become in my own story - and I can only release my grip on staying when I’m convinced that home is still up ahead.  

Faith redefines home to be at home on the journey toward it. 

Verses 11-22; 29-40.  Pregnancy in old age, resurrection from death, counter-cultural blessings, freedom from slavery, parting of the waters, destruction of city walls…all of these were supernatural human experiences, only resulting from promises God made. But they were just glimpses into what God had promised in Jesus and what He promises is still ahead for all of His followers.

Atypical could be a one-word summary of God’s promises; otherwise we might take credit, and otherwise, there would be no need for faith. When I find myself resisting God because “the world just doesn’t work this way”, it’s an indicator I’m probably not living by faith.  

Faith leans into the strength of God’s promises more than the limits of normalcy. 

Verses 23-28. Moses’ parents could have faced Pharaoh’s retaliation for concealing Moses’ birth, because they had been commanded to kill him. But they acted consistent with who they were as the people of God rather than bowing to a human decree.  Later, Moses himself denied his royal Egyptian rights and privileges and instead chose to follow the ways of his real King.

Many times, my walk of faith has led to a split in the road, and I haven’t always chosen well like Moses and his parents.  I’ve often picked the path of my own comfort over the path of my conviction as a follower of Jesus, and it’s fear that rules when I do.  

Faith defies fear by acting on conviction instead of comfort.  

I don’t play basketball any better after visiting the hall of fame, because the players all had something I do not, no matter how hard I practice. But we’re reminded in Hebrews 11, that we are the ones who have something these people did not have:

We know the end of the story of faith. 

We relate to the Savior of our faith. 

We walk in His Spirit who empowers our faith. 

Unlike any hall of fame, this record serves to equip the ones who walk its halls to keep going forward by faith.