” These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” [Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV]
These two verses are at the end of a chapter which summarises many of the Old Testament heroes of the faith. These men and women lived by faith in a God whom they couldn’t see and couldn’t relate to in the way we do now. They only had the Law and the occasional visitation by an angel to go by. And yet, they held fast till the day they died.
The Promised Land from Mt Nebo
They believed in the promises of God. They believed in something that none of them saw the complete fulfilment of in their lives. Even Moses, who was given the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, never saw it except from a distance. He never entered the fulfilment of the promise. But it didn’t change his deep faith in the God of the promise.
Today, we have seen much fulfilment of the Old Testament promises. We have the promised Salvation by Christ’s death on the cross. We have the promised Holy Spirit, so we can communicate daily with the God of heaven. We can see His power at work in those around us — indeed, we can see a little of the Kingdom of God on earth. Our faith, here and now, has immediate rewards, even while there is still a future promise ahead of us. How fortunate we are!
Does our faith rank up to those Old Testament heroes though? Do we still keep faith and believe on God as our rock and foundation even when we don’t see the answers we want? Something to think about.
Romancing The Rock 
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