Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
HEBREWS 11:1-2, 8-12 | Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
Hebrews 11 is a catalogue of OT saints who exercised faith, in a variety of amazing ways. The word faith does not appear in any of their narratives, save that of Abraham, and then only once. These men and women demonstrated their faith by trusting God in remarkable ways. Their sacrifices and great deeds find their final meaning in relation to Jesus, whose life is a culmination of the hopes and dreams of the Old Testament, giving a new context to every previous institution, practice, and figure.
Abraham and Sarah, for instance, had faith in God’s promise of a son and a new home, though there seemed no reasonable way to conceive, and they had to travel to an unknown and unseen land. Their trust in God’s promise anticipates the NT trust that through Christ we have an eternal home and a new citizenship in heaven.
What promise of God are you trusting?
