The Devotional – A look at Hebrews 11:1-39

The Devotional – A look at Hebrews 11:1-39

Comment: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What should we do? Is faith a characteristic of human substance or of a divine quality? Is faith a mixture of both the divine and human combined? There can be no better definition of FAITH then the one we read from Hebrews 11:1. One problem with human beings is that this definition is found in the Holy Bible and NOT in any secular dictionary. Dictionaries define faith a strong belief in religion, or faith is defined as “a religion”. Faith also can be “honest’ or “dishonest”. Faith for some is abstract or having no object, yet the writer of Hebrews does give the definition of faith as having SUBSTANCE and EVIDENCE. Faith then is not supernatural, it is not a religion, it is not a human substance or a divine revelation. FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR AND THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. Faith always has an object as it is the human ability to TRUST the evidence of the things we ALL hope for in life.

Devotional: Our hope in life is normally a TRUST in what we do in life, our trust in life is normally a healthy HOPE in what we BELEIVE in. In life; these three words, TRUST, HOPE and BELIEVE are equal in power to the word FAITH; thus faith is the substance of things hoped for and it is the evidence/object of things not seen. That is; if I am trusting and believing this is the EVIDENCE to convict me in any court of law as having FAITH. Why am I saying this? Faith is simply a human power to trust and hope for the unseen evidences of life. Faith in God then is a confident conviction of believing His promises.

Recorded throughout the Holy Bible are evidences of men, women and children who hoped for and trusted in God for various reasons, King David as a young shepherd boy killed a lion and a bear, evidence that he trusted God (1 Samuel 17:36) read the context of 1 Samuel 17 to get the full picture. Solomon trusted God to give him wisdom and understanding in order to lead the nation Israel and God provided, see 1 Kings 3, this entire chapter is wonderful as Solomon says to the LORD, “I am a little child who does not know how to go out or come in. 

Finally; in the book of Hebrews in the eleventh chapter we see many people of faith, see verses 30-40. We see then in all of these people a common human connection FAITH, the ability to trust God just as they trusted in their nation, spouses and children. If I say to you and me today that we have fallen from FAITH, I would be saying we have lost our ability to believe, to trust and to hope. It means that we have little or no ability to be a good parent, a responsible adult or even a good husband of wife. Our faith, when we refused to trust in God (In God we Trust) as a nation our faith in all areas of life began to crumble, today all across this nation we are a faithless people and shattered in all areas of life.