For me, reading Hebrews 11 is like walking through a “People of Faith in Action” Hall of Fame. As I read about these people of faith who appear in the pages of biblical history like pictures hanging in an art gallery, I ask myself, “How can I ever measure up to that kind of faith?”
There are people who live such godly lives that they did not die, like Enoch, and people who had great faith in what God said and built a boat that took many years to complete even though there had never been rain and floods, like Noah.
And there is the old couple who gave birth to a baby, the mother being 90 years old and the father 100 years old and laughing with delight as God fulfills his promise to them.
And then there is Moses, who became God’s miracle man at age 80, boldly confronting the powerful Pharoah and freeing the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt.
When I walk through this gallery of people, I become intimidated and made to feel like I am in another world of super-spiritual people. But then I remember the biblical record teaches me that God does not divide His people into super-spiritual saints and malnourished believers. In God’s family everybody is totally human and equally loved.
Furthermore, God is today the same God He was in the Old Testament, and nothing less than He was to Moses and Abraham. And so, the people remembered and named as people of faith in Hebrews 11 are not being listed as “special” saints whose life of faith cannot be modeled in our present world.
When we read the stories of these people, as recorded in the Old Testament, we discover that they are people who think, and act very much like us. These people of faith in Hebrews 11, become “terrified” and “cried out to the Lord” when in a desperate situation. They become angry and blame others. And with diminished faith, they feel hopeless and despairing of life. These are not special people with special powers. They are fully human, just like us.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that nourishing a life of faith in God will enable each of us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (12:2). The writer wants us to understand that it was their faith in God that enabled the people of God to pass through the Red Sea, take down the walls of Jericho, and “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, … gained what was promised; … shut the mouths of the lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; … and routed foreign armies.” (11:29-34).
This same faith was also seen in the lives of people who were tortured, mocked, flogged, chained and imprisoned. Faith was evident in those who were stoned to death, sawn in two, and killed by the sword. Faith in God sustained God’s people when they were destitute, persecuted, and tortured.
And the writer wants us to know that this same faith in God will also sustain us in our times of fear and desperation when enemies of all kinds are boxing us in with no possible escape.
Yes, a miracle is a miracle and nothing less. Miracles are “A humanly impossible event, that occurs in the natural realm, apart from natural causes, for the glory of God” that happened throughout our human history and continue to happen today. Too often, in our day of sophistication and knowledge, miracles are often explained away as some natural coincidence, as some reasonable, logical result of sequential events.
At such times we learn the difficult lesson of trusting, waiting, and being still, while God works His miracle of making a way of deliverance through the threatening sea or impossible wall of our life situation. Hebrews 11 is for us to read whenever our faith in God needs to be reinforced in our heart, mind, and action.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. … These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:1,2,39,40).
“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 perfecter of faith.” (12:1,2a).
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – May 25, 2022
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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