Those who have Gone Before

Daring Greatly

In my last post, I spoke about daring greatly. The author of Hebrews tells us that to follow God is to step out in faith, to hold on to our confidence even in the face of opposition and seeming hopelessness. He tells us that we must continue to run with endurance, looking to Christ, because there is a great joy set before us, and we will achieve it if we will only hold on a while longer. In order to drive home his point, he gives us examples of those who stepped out in faith.

They are not everyday examples. He does not say ‘so-and-so was cheery on the way to the dentist’; he does not say ‘so and so was able to finish his homework on time.’ We are talking about a much larger scale, a life and death, rise and fall of nations scale. The author lays out for us an entire history of the world, starting with the creation, and brings us all the way through the story of the Hebrew people, showing us God’s hand in all of human history, guiding events and revealing his will to those who were willing to follow it. He tells us the great story of the world that I was talking about; these are the main characters of past chapters. There is no greater honor, no greater legacy.

Something Better

And yet – and yet, looking from an earthly perspective, it really doesn’t seem like these people accomplished much. Abraham moved several hundred miles and set up in tents and had a lot of kids, and before his grandson was dead, all his family had moved out of the land he thought he was promised and were living somewhere else. Jacob and Joseph prophesied, but they died long before anyone knew if the prophecies would come true. Moses led the people out of Egypt only to die in the desert; David unified a kingdom that was divided again as soon as his grandson took the throne. The prophets went around preaching at people who didn’t want to listen and often either watched sadly as their words came true, or were killed before they had the chance to see what would happen. It’s not just a glowing success story.

But the author of Hebrews realizes this. He tells us that “all these, having received a good testimony by faith, did not receive the promise.” Why? Because God has provided something better, and it isn’t going to happen “apart from us.” Their chapters in the story are over, but the story itself isn’t over. We haven’t reached the climax yet; we haven’t reached the part where everything comes right. The ones who came before us have to wait until we, too, have fulfilled the part we have to play in this great work.

It is in this context that the author says we must “run with endurance” ourselves, as they did, “because we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” People sometimes ask who the witnesses are, but if you read the verse in context, starting back in chapter 10 or 11, it’s obvious. It’s all the people just listed who are still waiting to see how things will play out. Their chapters in this great story have concluded; they wait with eager eyes to see how our chapters will read, what we will do with what they have left us. They watch our lives with the avid interest of a child reading an adventure story.

Don’t Settle

This is what the author means when he says we must step out in faith. It means we must view our lives in the context of God’s redemptive plan for the world, in the context of the great war story and great love story that is history. And then, with that in mind, we must seek God’s will for our lives, for our roles in this story, and hold on to his answer against all odds.

God loves the man who dares to love Him. Do not be like Esau, who gave up a glorious unseen inheritance for the poor pot of soup he could hold in his hand at the time. Don’t settle. Hold fast your hope and wait for better things. Don’t draw back. Dare greatly this decade. The story is not over; the great deeds have not all yet been done. Which deeds shall we do to add to this story?

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