SCRIPTURE: By faith Abraham, when he was called [by God], obeyed by going to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land, as in a strange land, living in tents [as nomads] with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. Hebrews 11:8-9 AMP
THOUGHT: I like reading the condensed version of almost anything, and have used several of the “for Dummies” series to learn specific things I needed to know quickly. And, well, usually I seem to need to know quickly.
If there ever was a “Faith for Dummies,” a condensed version of what and who you need to know to judge the importance of faith in this life, look no further than Hebrews 11. In fact, in the ESV, the 40 short verses of Hebrews 11 plus the two before and the two after (so, from Hebrews 10:38 to 12:2) the word faith is used 28 times, and the phrase by faith 21 times. (Thanks to my brother Kim who got me started looking at that.) By contrast, faith is only mentioned 17 times in the entire Old Testament – but, of course, the characters mentioned in Hebrews are all found there.
Abraham was the beginning of the long line mentioned in my so-titled Faith for Dummies, and the first in a long project of God to call and shape a people who would demonstrate to the rest of the world who he was. Because the world, it would seem, has a penchant for forgetting who God is. Just think for a moment about Israel’s history after Abraham. Think about Noah long before Abraham, and God starting over way back there. And think about Jesus long after Abraham, and God making himself ultimately clear there. The masses keep forgetting until we hear phrases like “faith is just a crutch” or “religion is the opiate of the masses.” Wow. How about “forgetting God is the opiate of the masses?”
When I look around, I find I am like a foreigner in the promised land, as in a strange land, needing to live by faith in the promises God has made and kept throughout history. I am just keeping Faith for Dummies on the nightstand, sometimes reading a phrase or two at a time, and learning what others have relied on through troubled times – that divine guarantees are meant for me too.
PRAYER: Oh God, thank you for your divine guarantees, that even when we cannot see, we can travel by faith in your promises.
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ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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