So, what does it really mean to live by faith? According to our author, it means being sure of things we hope for but do not yet see. And that was certainly the case for the many people mentioned in today’s passage.

Take Noah, for example. God told him to do something that didn’t make any sense at all – to build a big, watertight box and fill it with all sorts of animals. And why? Because a big storm was coming – a storm so big that it would not only cause the ark to float, but flood the whole world. Noah had never seen anything like that before, and had no reason to believe that it was even possible. And yet he built the ark and summoned the animals because he trusted God – and as a result, he and his family and all those animals were saved.

So, what about Abraham? God made some mighty big promises to him too. God told him that his descendants would inherit the land where Abraham was living as more or less an unwelcome refugee. Oh, and God kept promising him that he and his wife Sarah would have as many descendants as the sand on the seashore. But Abraham trusted God and His promises, even though by the time Abraham died, all the land he owned was a graveyard plot, and he only had one son.

So, what about us? Which of God’s promises are you having a hard time trusting Him to keep today? Maybe you don’t feel like you’re experiencing the abundant life Jesus talked about (John 10:10). Maybe, as you wrestle with addictions or besetting sins, you don’t feel much like you’ve been freed from sin’s power (Romans 6:6-7). Maybe you feel so broken, so messed up that you can’t imagine Jesus would ever want to welcome you into His presence (John 6:37).

But remember – faith isn’t about already having whatever it is that God has promised us. It’s about trusting God even when things don’t make sense or don’t feel right. So, just as Abraham had to wait 25 years for the child God promised him, and just as it took Noah who knows how long to build that big ark, our job is to keep on trusting God, no matter how long it might take Him to keep His promises – and even if we never see those promises kept in our own lifetimes.

So, will we trust God to bless us in His way and in His time? Or will we insist on having everything our way right now?

Hebrews 11:1-16 (ESV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.