Devotionary

Today's episode is based on another one-verse story of faith, that of Jacob. And it involves another set of twin sons and their blessing by their grandfather. This time, it deals with Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. Jacob and his family are living in Egypt, on land provided to them by the Pharaoh. At this point, Jacob has no idea when they will return to the land of Canaan. But being old and knowing his days are numbered, he chooses to pronounce a blessing on his two grandsons. And he does so – by faith – trusting God for the eventual outcome and fulfillment of his blessing.

In today's episode, we'll be unpacking a single verse, verse 20 in Hebrews chapter 11. It's a short verse, but is jam-packed with significance. It involves Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, and speaks of the blessings he gave his two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. What makes this particular verse so interesting is that it claims that Isaac pronounced these future blessings on his sons … by faith. And yet, the story of the event, as recorded in Genesis, seems to paint a slightly different picture. Or does it?

Today, we're going to stay in Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 – the story of Abraham's faith displayed as he prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We're revisiting this passage because there is a crucial lesson for us to learn from the test that God gives Abraham. What exactly was God testing? Was there something about Abraham He didn't know and needed to find out? If God is all-knowing, then it would seem that He knew what the outcome would be before anything even happened. So, was the test for God's benefit or Abraham's? The way you answer this question will make a huge difference in how you understand God's declaration of Abraham as righteous because of his faith.

Today's episode covers Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 and deals with one of the most controversial and difficult stories in the entire Bible: God's command for Abraham to take the life of Isaac, his son. The author of Hebrews uses this real-life event to further illustrate the true nature of faith. Abraham was being commanded by God to do the unthinkable. To us, what God told Abraham to do wasn't even logical. Was God really asking Abraham to take the life of very son He had miraculously given him? While much of this story may not make sense to us, God's reasoning and motives can't be questioned. He is holy, just and righteous in all He does. And He had a perfectly good purpose behind His seemingly unjust command.

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In today's episode based on Hebrews 11, verses 13-16, we'll see that each of the Old Testaments saints to which the author has introduced us so far, all died in their faith. They died without having received what God had promised them. That sounds rather anticlimactic, doesn't it? Kind of a let-down, a disappointment, until you consider what the author is trying to teach us about faith. He mentions a better country, a heavenly one, that contains a city that God has prepared for them. It was that future promise on which they placed their hope. Not the immediate, temporal blessings of this life.

In today's episode, we get to visit with Abraham. His faith story is told in Hebrews 11, verses 8-10. In these three short verses, the author provides us with a succinct synopsis of Abraham's long life. It was characterized by faith. Abraham obeyed God. But he did so because he trusted God. Now, he didn't always trust God fully and completely. Sometimes he had his doubts, not so much in God's promises, but in how He was going to bring them about. Occasionally, he and his wife. Sarah, tried to help God out. But Abraham was going to learn that God's will is best done God's way. And Abraham would believe God, right up to the end.

Today's episode introduces us to Abraham's wife, Sarah, and lets us know that Abraham was not the only one who had faith in God. But what is interesting is that Sarah seemed to struggle a bit believing that God was going to actually pull off what He had promised. It wasn't so much that she didn't trust His promise. It was that He seemed to have missed the fact that she was old and barren. So she just assumed God was going to fulfill His promise some other way. And she was not above giving suggestions. But in the end, she believed God. She was learning that faith is not a commodity, but a way of life.

Today's episode is called "Flood Assurance" because it deals with the faith of Noah, the famous ark-builder, who is described in verse 7 of Hebrews 11. Noah's story is a powerful example of faith because it involved a salvation from death that would require some pretty significant steps of obedience in the face of overwhelmingly difficult and seemingly illogical demands by God. Noah's salvation required faith. But it wasn't his faith that saved him – it was God. Faith is the subject is the subject of this chapter, but God is the object. It was Noah's faith in God, not the ark, that saved him. In the face of God's looming judgment, Noah found mercy, grace, and refuge in the salvation provided by God.

In today's episode, based on Hebrews 11, verses 5-6, we get introduced to a little-known Old Testament character named Enoch. While the record of Enoch's life and accomplishments is short, he does hold the somewhat unique distinction of being one of just a few men in the Bible who never died. That's right. The book of Genesis says, he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. And while that's a fairly significant claim to fame, the real thing that sets Enoch apart is his faith. He was taken to be with God because he believed and trusted in God – all without having to experience death.

Today, we'll be looking at a single verse, verse 4, from Hebrews chapter 11. The author has provided us with a description of faith, now he's going to demonstrate what that faith looks like in real life, using Abel, one of the sons of Adam and Eve. Long-dead, murdered by his own brother, Abel still provides us with a powerful example of the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The story of Cain and Abel has puzzled Bible readers for millenniums. Why was Cain's sacrifice rejected by God? Why was Abel's accepted. How was Abel showing assurance in things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen? And how, even today, is his short-lived life a demonstration of faith?