By Adam Winn, Ph. D.
Chair and Professor, Department of Biblical and Religious Studies at Samford University
WHEN GOD INTERRUPTS YOUR LIFE
Hebrews 11:8–19
When God interrupts our plans, we can trust what He’s doing. (8–12)
Here we pick up in the middle of what is often referred to as the “hall of faith.” By offering great examples of faith from Israel’s past, the author of Hebrews is seeking to illustrate the way his audience is called to live.
After describing the faith of Abel, Enoch and Noah, the
author turns to the faith of Abraham. Verse 8 begins by describing Abraham’s first act of faith, namely obeying God by leaving his home for distant land — a land that God promised as an inheritance.
The author then notes that Abraham stayed in that land as a foreigner and tent dweller, never actually securing the land but trusting that one day God would grant it to his descendants.
We are told that he looked forward to a city whose architect and builder is God, a reference to God’s new or renewed creation.
The author then shifts to the miraculous birth of Isaac, connecting this birth to Abraham’s trust in God’s promise of a son. It is not mentioned that Abraham was not always faithful in this regard, and we should take comfort in the fact that even our failures in faith do not hinder God’s faithfulness to His promise.
Because of Abraham’s faithfulness, the great nation of God’s chosen people was birthed.
Faith in God helps us to understand there is a greater purpose and benefit behind God’s plan for our lives. (13–16)
The text then broadens its focus to all the faithful mentioned thus far. It notes how these people died without receiving what they were promised but did see it from a distance.
How they “saw” these promises is unclear. It could be a figurative reference to their great faith in the certainty of what was to come or a reference to a vision from God.
On this we can only speculate. As a result of their faith, they recognized that they were foreigners on earth seeking a greater homeland, a heavenly country.
Because of their faith and hope in such a future, God is not ashamed to be called their God, and He has prepared a city for them.
This “city” is a reference to a new or restored creation that is “heavenly” in quality and unlike the current fallen and broken creation.
When our faith is tested, we can still trust God’s plan for us. (17–19)
The text returns to Abraham and his willingness to offer up Isaac. In God’s instruction to sacrifice Isaac, a tension is created between that specific command and God’s promise that through Isaac God’s promises would be fulfilled.
The author reveals how Abraham resolves this tension, namely through his trust that God can raise the dead. In other words, Abraham understands that because of God’s promise regarding the significance of Isaac, His command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac cannot ultimately end in Isaac’s death but in Isaac being raised from the dead.
These verses offer us models to follow. May we trust God even when we can’t see what is next. May we trust God even when the only visible outcomes make no sense.
And may we live as strangers in this world, with complete faith that our true home is waiting for us beyond this life and this world.
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