Holding On Through the Stumbles of Faith
In my bible reading this week I paused for a couple of days and pondered what it means when in Hebrews 11 it says:
"...God is not ashamed to be called their God..."
This statement follows a description of the faith of people like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. In some of their stories we find incidents when their faith was not strong. When Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for God to fulfill his promise to give them a son they made their own plans and Abraham conceived a son with Sarah's maidservant Hagar. There is also the incident where Sarah laughed at the prospect of having a son in her old age and even lied that she had not had a moment of levity and unbelief. Yet in the Hebrews 11 account they are held up as great examples of faithful people.
Why did God seemingly overlook their disbelief? The clue is found in the first part of Hebrews 11:16.
"...they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one..."
Sometimes people of faith have doubts. Sometimes they wallow in self pity. Sometimes they think God has abandoned them. But we learn from the saints of old that despite their moments of doubt they never lost site of the goal. They never turned back to the comfortable and known. They always pressed forward into the promises of God and they died before they saw the door Jesus opened to God's heavenly city.
This little verse from Hebrews 11:16b puts my heart at peace. You and I are part of a ministry that has been specifically called to make disciples across the street and around the world. Sometimes we get busy and fail to pray for the advance of the Kingdom through this ministry. Sometimes we fail to do what God asks us to do whether it be through financial support or speaking to a person who needs to know who Jesus is. Nevertheless, we have this assurance that God is not ashamed of us. He is not ashamed because He sees us through the blood of Jesus shed for us.
We have an advantage over the saints from the past. They were looking forward to redemption. We live on the other side of history where Jesus has come and removed all the barriers between us and God and by his spirit he lives within us. Despite this, our humanness will sometimes divert our attention and we will not live up to the calling God has on our lives.
It is a huge blessing to know that when we stumble or fail or display a lack faith, God is not ashamed of us because like Abraham and Sarah and others who have gone before us, most of the time we have our eyes fixed on Jesus.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith."
Hebrews 12:1,2
