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 …the world was not worthy of them. 

When the world is most true to itself it values the valueless. It idolises the trivial and superficial. It regularly pours its honours on the unimportant. In the main, people of faith are not valued. But when the people of faith are most true to themselves (i.e.to their new natures in Christ) they are not bothered. They know what matters most, and it is not the praise of men. It is, rather, to know the smile of God. It is to hear His, ”Well done”. They are a living rebuke to the world, and the world responds by rejecting them. But as they are ‘living for an Audience of one’ it doesn’t make so much as a tiny dent on their souls. but look where loving ”human praise” too much can take you (John 12:42,43).

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated – ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. (The Message).

This has a strangely contemporary ring to it. Nothing has changed since the time Hebrews was written Still today, millions of Christians suffer great privations (at the very least), just because they dare to follow Jesus.

Warren Wiersbe writes:

”…nowhere in Hebrews 11 will you find a record of any failure because of unbelief. Faith records only victories.’ ‘New Testament Commentary’, p.837.

However, we note the paradox that whereas some people are brought out of trouble by faith (32-35a), others are enabled to go through by faith. Both groups are victorious, but in different ways. Our Christian stories are written by the same Author, and they share a common ending. They also have similar, although not identical, beginnings. But the details in the middle chapters differ. Peter must not expect to live the same life as John. Rather, let him keep his eyes on Jesus. What the Master does with John is none of the fisherman’s business (see John 21:20-22).

This also causes me to think about Acts 12 where we read that James, the brother of John, was put to death, but Peter was miraculously delivered from prison. They shared the same Author but they were reading from different scripts. This is the paradox of faith.

‘…it takes more faith to endure than it does to escape. Like the three Hebrew children, we should trust God and obey Him even if He does not deliver us (Dan 3:16-18).’ ‘New Testament Commentary’, p.838.

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, 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. 

Through faith, people can do the miraculous; they are enabled to achieve the impossible;

Through faith, people can do the miraculous; they are enabled to achieve the impossible. Let’s not miss the point that God uses ordinary, flawed human-beings, just like you and me, to do great things. These things are done ”through faith” but still it is people doing it. This does not mean we can achieve any impossibility we randomly choose. What it does mean is that we will be enabled to do anything God asks of us.

“God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. ” E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

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…

The author of Hebrews mentions a number of Old Testament figures, but he doesn’t have time to go into great details regarding their life-stories.

What we can affirm is that they were all frail and faulty at some point. They possessed feet of clay. ‘No perfect people need apply.’

It’s been said that God has the right to use people of whom I may personally disapprove.

Samson, for example.

Would he make it onto most church leadership teams? It’s been pointed out that Samson was greatly influenced by his fleshly desires, but in the end he did trust God to deliver him, and was willing to lay down his life to overcome the enemy. However, as Wiersbe rightly says, we must not think we can live double lives and still expect the blessing of God.

However, the fact that God uses ‘frail children of dust, and feeble as frail’, should lift our spirits and inject iron into our souls. We must not be presumptuous, but our sins and failings and weaknesses do not necessarily disqualify us from valiant service in the ranks of God’s mighty army.

PRAYER: Merciful God, I am so sorry for what I am not. I pray that by your grace you will make me everything you want me to be, and use me as you will. Lord increase my faith.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak…

Like many a preacher, the writer here glances at his wristwatch and realises he needs to wrap things up.

Warren Wiersbe comments:

‘Faith can operate in the life of any person who will dare to listen to God’s Word and surrender to God’s will. What a variety of personalities we have here! Gideon was a frightened farmer whose faith did not grow strong right away (Judg.6:11-7:25). Barak won a resounding victory over Sisera, but he needed Deborah the prophetess as his helper to assure him (see Judg.4:1-5:31). Both Gideon and Barak are encouragements to us who falter in our faith.’ ‘New Testament Commentary’, p.837.

I am also struck by the thought that God is able to bring the right people around us to strengthen our hands in Him. ”Father-like He tends and spares us, well our feeble frame He knows…”

PRAYER: Lord, I often feel I am in the company of those who are of ‘little faith’. Thank you, though, that faith can grow, and I ask that mine will, for your glory.

By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.

Rahab’s faith was demonstrated in that she put her life on the line to protect the Israelite spies who had covertly entered Jericho. She was not saved by her good works but by a faith that worked.

How much Bible did Rahab know? Very little really. But what she did know of the true and living God moved her to put her faith in Him:

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. ¹⁰ We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.¹¹ When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. (Joshua 2:9-11).

How remarkable it is to see the name ”Rahab” mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus as found in Matthew 1:5a:

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab…

This is is amazing grace!

But it is also amazing that my name got linked to Jesus – and yours did too (if you’re trusting in Him). Whatever we have been, whatever we have done, we can be saved by faith in Jesus. No sin can keep us from salvation except the stubborn refusal to trust in the Saviour.

By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God. (The Message)

The more I see of the brokenness of the world, the more convinced I am that the Bible is correct in its diagnosis of the human condition, and in its prescription of Jesus as the only cure. Nevertheless, most people, even if they admit something is wrong, are desperate to find some other answer, to pick up a different prescription.

It is not that we can’t believe, but rather that we won’t believe. (See John 12:37, 39).

‘The prevalence of unbelief and indifference in the present day ought not to surprise us. It is just one of the evidences of that mighty foundational doctrine, the total corruption and fall of man. How feebly we grasp and realise that doctrine is proved by our surprise at human incredulity. We only half believe the heart’s deceitfulness. Let us read our Bibles more attentively and search their contents more carefully. Even when Christ wrought miracles and preached sermons, there were numbers of his hearers who remained utterly unmoved. What right have we to wonder if the hearers of modern sermons in countless sermons remain unbelieving?.. Man’s obstinate unbelief is one among many indirect proofs that the Bible is true. The clearest prophecy in Isaiah begins with the solemn question, ”Who hath believed?” (Isaiah 53:1).’ J.C. Ryle: ‘Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John’, p.222.

As Paul infers in Romans 1, it is utterly clear from the created order that there is a God. But this is an inconvenient truth to sinful people, so we deliberately try to suppress it.

 By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn’t touch them.

²⁹ By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.

³⁰ By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat. (The Message).

‘Faith brings us out (Heb.11:28), takes us through (Heb.11:29), and brings us in (Heb.11:30). When we trust God, we get what God can do. But when we trust ourselves, we get only what people can do.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘New Testament Commentary’, p.836.

This reminds me of the A.C. Dixon quote:

“When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. And so on. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.” A. C. Dixon.

I remember a pastor saying that, watching certain things happening in his church, he would have to say again and again, ‘Only God!’

 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God’s people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah’s camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king’s blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn’t touch them. (The Message).

 ‘To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. ‘Thomas Aquinas.

Vance Havner commented that ”Moses chose the imperishable, saw the invisible, and did the impossible”.

 ”Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Moses exemplified this principle.

Warren Wiersbe comments that ”True faith causes a believer to hold the right values and make the right decisions” (New Testament Commentary, p.836). He says that in Moses we see:

• the refusal of faith: He could have had a cushy life in Egypt, but instead he fully embraced God’s will, with all the personal cost this entailed;
• the reproach of faith: He was willing to be despised and mistreated along with God’s people;
• the reward of faith: He kept his eye on the ultimate prize.

Moses saw by faith what ‘natural’ people do not see. He saw the invisible God. This spiritual vision enable him to persevere through all manner of trials and difficulties.

PRAYER: ”Day by day, dear Lord,
of thee three things I pray;
to see thee more clearly,
to love thee more dearly,
to follow thee more nearly,
day by day.” (Attributed to Richard of Chichester).