13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
Having faith does not guarantee that you get what you want. In fact, until our wants become His wants, we will often be frustrated in our pursuits. This chapter of Hebrews lists some of the pillars of faith in the Old Testament. But as this verse says, all of them did not receive the things promised, but they still had faith. They had a different perspective on life and God’s work in their lives and in the world than most of us have. If we don’t see the results by the time we go to bed tonight, we get frustrated. This is only a temporary home. Our time here is very short. We think 80 years is a long time, but it is not even a blink in eternity time. But what we do during this blink determines our eternity. All these people lived still remaining steadfast in their faith, even though they never fully experienced the result of their faith. We get a down payment of the object of our faith, but we don’t get to fully experience the totality of what God has promised until we get to heaven. They saw the object of their faith at a distance. We do as well. This realization can and should help us as we wait for God’s work in our lives and in the world. His timetable is different from ours. We might die without receiving what was promised. We might only look at healing from a distance. We might see reconciliation from across the room. We might remain an outsider. All of these are OK. They all signal that this is not our permanent home. We are just on a vacation here. (Some might say a nightmare!) But it is only temporary.
The Arnold Journey 