Hebrews 11:13 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, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
There are some people who always want to ‘see’ before they will believe. They want substance in hand. They want the proof, even if they don’t get the pudding. These people often have difficulties in their past with others who have hurt them, thus setting them up for future disappointments. Trusting is a very difficult thing for people like this.
Hurts can stand in the way of trusting, even trusting others who haven’t been a part of the original hurt. Our brains remember those hurts and create coping skills to protect us against future hurts. But oftentimes those previous ways of coping don’t work in the current situations.
Our text is part of what is called the “Famous Faith” chapter of the Scriptures. It recalls some of the big events and people who trusted the LORD to do what He promised. When they lived out their trust, they did extraordinary things and witnessed a window into a future to which they would look, but not arrive.
The airlines in recent months have had a problem with cancelled flights and the anger of customers who started their days with an expectation that they would arrive at their destination on time. But their expectation, their faith in the airlines and the weather, were gravely tested. They went through the headache of trying to reschedule their flights along with thousands of other people.
We had this happen in China. We were booked on a train trip, but the train was canceled. We had no idea what had happened. Everything was in Chinese! We waited, no way to figure out what had happened, and no way to contact our travel agent. Since we made it out of China, we obviously finally did, through the kindness of a stranger who allowed us to make a phone call on their cell phone.
The people in this chapter started on their journey hoping and praying they would receive the fullness of the promise. They all looked forward to what God had said He would do for them and through them. Some received small parts of the promise, but none received everything.
What kept them moving forward was the knowledge that this was just their temporary home. This is not all there is. There is more to come. And this view of life being temporary kept them moving forward despite not receiving everything that was promised.
But there was more to their story than this. Each of them knew the One who had made the promise. It was more than a story in a book to them. They had encounters with the One who promised. And when the encounters happened, the trajectory of their life changed. They moved in a different direction from that moment forward.
Perhaps, we need to have the trajectory of our life changed as well. But this would mean a surrender to the One who makes the promises that always get fulfilled. Sometimes the fulfillment even happens in our short lifespan. But often, the promises carry a much longer timeframe than we usually encounter.
We are so used to things happening when we want it to happen. We as Westerners have a very short attention span. We want it delivered by 5PM today. We don’t want to have to wait at the drive-up window for more than ten seconds before our food is handed to us in our bag.
But the LORD is not on our timeframe. A thousand years are like a day, and a day like a thousand years. Are you willing to trust His timeframe?
The Arnold Journey 