From Hebrews 11:3-31, the author has drawn our attention to creation, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and Rahab. And though he could continue drawing our attention to one biblical figure after another, he’s dealing with certain constraints and so he simply writes this in verse 32: “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets...”
Why the author mentions these specific people, I’m not really sure and I’m not sure it really matters. Rather, I think his desire is simply to say this, and please allow me to embellish. “Beloved, I could go on and bring to your attention many people who trusted in the faithfulness of God and found him to be faithful. By the grace of God, these people received and believed the commandments and promises of the Lord, and they discovered along the way that he does everything he says he’s going to do. They were not superheroes, rather, they were men and women just like you and me, and the thing that sets them apart is their faith in the faithfulness of God. It’s not so much that they were great but that they trusted in a God who is great. Indeed, these people are commended by God himself because they trusted in God and nothing else.”
Now, as we carefully consider the lives of the people that the author goes on to describe beginning in verse 33, we discover something strange and glorious: the outcome of their faith on this earth, the practical results of their way of life, were not always the same. In fact, they were radically different. Some of these people achieved great things and won great victories by faith to the glory of Christ. Others of them suffered great things and lost great battles by faith to the glory of Christ. Some of them conquered by faith, and some of them were conquered by faith. But all of them brought glory to God because all of them listened to the Lord and did what he commanded them to do, by his grace and power, even though they didn’t experience the same earthly results. They were successful in this life because they trusted in the Lord no matter what the cost or consequence, not because things always went well for them.
In the next two posts in this series, I’ll say a few things about both groups of people, but for now I want to encourage you to seriously contemplate this before the Lord: living by faith will not produce the same outcome for every person because God’s will is not the same for every person. Indeed, the heart of living by faith is loving the Lord, listening to his words and will, and then following in his ways whether in victory or defeat, triumph or tragedy, celebration or mourning.
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