Hall of Faith

I think all too many of us tend to think of ourselves as average, or perhaps below average, when we compare ourselves and our faith to that of the individuals mentioned in the Bible. In particular, there is a chapter in Hebrews (11) which is referred to often as the Hall of Faith. This chapter calls out many of the faithful and how they responded to God’s call into their lives, and is mentioned to serve as examples for the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written. Few of us would consider ourselves to be Hall of Faith worthy.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”, and many of our struggles with faith come about simply because we don’t see any unmistakable signs that God is directing our lives in a given direction. While this chapter mentions people of all kinds (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Joseph, and Moses to name a few), it also mentions someone I read about just the other day…Gideon.

In Judges 6, we read of God’s call on Gideon’s life, and far from just accepting everything he was told on faith, Gideon had more than a little “help” in this area. The call begins with a visitation from an angel, and during this encounter the angel takes his staff and touches it to some meat and bread. At that moment, fire springs up from the rock they were sitting on, and consumes them both.

Ah, but that wasn’t good enough for Gideon. He tells God that he will believe if God will cause the morning dew to soak a fleece set upon the ground, but make all the ground around it dry.

God does it.

Just to be sure, he then asks God to do the opposite (soak the ground around the fleece, but leave the fleece dry).

The next morning, God does this as well.

The story goes on with Gideon gathering 32,000 men of war to attack the Midianites, which would still have had the Israelites outnumbered. It is only at this point in the story that Gideon begins to show true faith and trust in the Lord. God tells him he has too many men, and to tell everyone who is afraid to go back home. I don’t know about you, but if more than 2 out of every 3 of my men then packed their things and left, that would discourage me.

With only 10,000 men left, God tells him he still has too many men. Taking the remaining force to a river, he tells everyone to drink from the river. Only those who lap the water like a dog are retained. Now the faith must really kick in, since only 3% of the men drink in this way (300 of them).

Now very few of us are called into physical battles with Midianite hordes, but we are called to walk in the light as Christ walked in the light, to care for the hurting and poor, and to share our testimonies and the gospel with those around us…both those we know and those we do not.

Yet no one is causing fire to leap from rocks, or giving us signs in the dew. Instead, we are in many ways called to a higher standard. In John 20:29, Jesus tells Thomas (another follower who had to see evidence or a sign first) that those who believe without seeing are blessed, and 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

God isn’t looking at how many Midianites we kill.…no, he is looking at our hearts. Even in the small things, we are to walk by faith. We are to continue to obey, even when there is no evidence that we are on the right track except that we are following God’s word. Instead of making exceptions for ourselves when our planned actions are contrary to God’s direction for our lives, we simply obey. We share our material things with those in need around us, our time and effort with those who need us, and our faith with others, even if no one ever responds positively in our presence.

When the roll is called up there one day, we may be quite surprised to hear the tales of the people who are in God’s Hall of Faith. I believe that ranked above those who needed a sign and fought might battles, will be the quiet man who simply shares the good news with others, the housewife who cares for the sick, the child of God who shares the good news with others, and the person who gives of himself to provide food for those who have none, gives to a homeless shelter, or helps to provide relief to the hurting in the world.

Where will you be in the Hall of Faith…?