Hebrews 11 - The Hall of Faith
All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.
Today's Reading: Hebrews 11
If you have time, read the entire chapter, Hebrews 11. Our key passage today is verses , and you should spend time focusing and meditating on those verses.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed..
Through the Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 23-24, Luke 20:1–26, Psalm 55:12–18, Proverbs 12:5-6
If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings.
Devotional:
It is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, because of its absurdity.
When God calls us to his work, there is always a response we must give that demonstrates our obedience. Sometimes, it is an act of sacrifice, such as Abraham's leaving home or being willing to offer his son on the altar. There are other times when obedience calls for risk and bravery, like Moses heading down to Egypt or facing off with Pharaoh. But sometimes, God calls his people to demonstrate their obedience by doing things that make no human sense.
In the book of Joshua, Israel's new leader was wandering around trying to figure out how to conquer the walled city of Jericho. Israel lacked the firepower and the armed forces to accomplish the task. During these meanderings, he met a soldier of God who gave him God's battle plan for the conquest of Jericho. And what a battle plan it was.
Imagine when Joshua returned to the elders of Israel and said, "Here's what God said our battle plan is. We are going to walk around the city once a day for six days, then one the seventh day, we walk around seven times." We are not going to actually fight them? "No." How does marching around a city conquer it? "God didn't say."
God's plan for destroying Jericho made absolutely no human sense. You do not bring a city crashing down by walking around it. Common sense tells you that. Logic, reason, basic intelligence - all make it clear that Joshua had lost his mind and that there there was no way God had actually spoken to him. But God had spoken and Joshua simply needed to obey.
Sometimes, we are called to obey God when it seems absurd and ridiculous. Obviously, there are some who take this too far - God is not the author of chaos - but we are called to follow him and operate on his logic and intelligence, not ours.
We all know the end of the story. It made no sense, but when Israel traipsed around Jericho 13 times in 7 days, when they did exactly what God said, God displayed his amazing power.
Are you willing to obey God even when you don't understand him? Are you willing to follow God's logic when it seems strange to you? Trust and obey - that is the way!
Father, help me to trust in your wisdom, even when it seems strange to me, even when I cannot understand you.
Think and Pray:
Are you willing to obey God even when you do not understand God?
Are you willing to accept that his logic is greater than yours, even when it seems absurd to you?
Are you willing to accept that his logic is greater than yours, even when it seems absurd to you?
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