| Believing...Hebrews 11 By Timothy W. Burnett |
| God's word is filled with fantastic examples of people believing to receive from God. As students of the Bible we can benefit greatly from studying these examples because according to God, they are for our learning. God emphasizes examples for us to learn from in Hebrews chapter 11. It starts by explaining that believing is the substance or title-deed of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things not seen. The world teaches that we must see first, and then believe. God said to believe first, then we see the results. Hebrews 10:35 teaches us to "cast not away" our confidence, which has "great recompense of reward." And further reads, "For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." The result is always to receive the promise. Verse 2 reads, "For by it the elders obtained a good report." They bore witness to a good report. They believed God an bore witness to the truth of God's word. In so doing, they did that which was pleasing to God. Anybody who wants to know how to please God only needs to go to His recorded word to learn how. As it is written, "But without faith [believing] it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:23 gives a wonderful example of people who pleased God. By believing God, Moses' parents hid him for three months. They were not afraid of the King's commandment to toss all the newborn sons in the river. More light can be shined on this in Exodus 2:2 where a woman conceived and bore Moses. She saw that he was a "goodly child," and she hid him for three months against the will of the King of Egypt. Moses' parents reverenced God like the midwives did in Exodus 1:17. The result was that Israel was able to receive God's promise of deliverance. They patiently believed, so that afterward they might receive the promise. Believing God's word energizes dynamically desirable results. See 1Thessalonians 2:13, "For this cause also thank we God without seizing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of [from] men, but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh in you that believe." |