"Abraham is jealous of you"
All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. (Hebrews 11:39, 40 NLT)
Hebrews 11 is an amazing chapter. The people that it describes & the lives they lived are truly encouraging to us. We often times find ourselves envying them for their walk with God. Enoch walked with God so closely, Abraham was blessed by God so obviously, Noah was favored by God, Moses was a great leader for God & talked face to face with him, & so on the list goes. We think things like, "If I could just have seen the waters of the Red Sea part or have the blessing that Abraham had or walk with God like Enoch, then maybe I would really know what knowing God is about. I could really have faith then."
But this verse in Hebrews awakens us to who we are, what we have, & how we actually may be the ones who are envied. Their faith was trusting God for something that had not yet happened. They were looking forward. They saw the day of Christ from afar & rejoiced but could not enjoy its reality. But we look back. We live in the reality of the coming of Christ. We live everyday in light of his life, death, & resurrection. I guarantee you Moses would trade the Red Sea parting for that.
We have the Holy Spirit indwelling, empowering, leading, teaching, & guiding us, don't you think Enoch would have loved to experience that?
We have instant access to the revealed Word of God in written form & Moses had stone tablets.
Although we are often jealous of the way God spoke to & worked in & through these OT saints, we have to remember how blessed we are in Christ. And they may just be the ones envying us.
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