I have a book that stays hidden away in the recesses of my room. It rarely sees the light of day, except when I feel the urge to write in it. It's a book filled with letters that I have written, letters that I've been scribbling for years now. But I never send them. No one but myself ever reads them. Because, you see, those letters are letters to my future husband. And the only person other than myself who ever will read them is the man who gives me a ring and his name, the man that I choose to spend my life with.
How, you ask, can I write letters to someone I've never met? How can I reveal intimate things about myself, and share my thoughts and hopes and worries and dreams and ambitions with a dead piece of paper, meant for a shadow of a man? I asked myself the same things when I started writing them. I've done few things harder than writing that first letter. What do I say? How can I start? Of course by the time he reads it, we will already know each other, but right now we don't....so should I introduce myself or not? It was a strange beginning, like stepping out onto a frozen lake that you are not sure will hold you or not.
But as time has gone on, those letters have become a source of comfort to me, a means of getting closer to someone I cannot see. If I feel lonely or far away from him, I write him a letter telling him how I feel, and somehow that brings us closer together. It's difficult to describe, but writing to him and telling him things that are close to my heart before I ever even meet him have added an extra level of intimacy and trust that I would have never gotten had I waited until I could actually see him to start talking to him.
In a way, these letters have shown me how to get closer to God, too. So many of us wait until we can "see" God before we invest in Him. We wait until He performs a miracle in our lives, or works something out the way we want it to, or saves a loved one...and THEN we start investing in Him, start developing a relationship with Him. But God wants us to invest in Him now - before He performs a miracle, before we need Him for something, before we can see Him.
Isn't that what a life of faith is all about? Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Why do I spend all of this time writing letters to a phantom? Because I have faith that he is not a phantom; that he is a real, flesh-and-blood human being, and that someday I will meet him. If we can believe that future spouses exist, when they are still as of yet unmet, why is it so hard to believe that the God who created them exists and loves us? Where is our faith in God?
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
How, you ask, can I write letters to someone I've never met? How can I reveal intimate things about myself, and share my thoughts and hopes and worries and dreams and ambitions with a dead piece of paper, meant for a shadow of a man? I asked myself the same things when I started writing them. I've done few things harder than writing that first letter. What do I say? How can I start? Of course by the time he reads it, we will already know each other, but right now we don't....so should I introduce myself or not? It was a strange beginning, like stepping out onto a frozen lake that you are not sure will hold you or not.
But as time has gone on, those letters have become a source of comfort to me, a means of getting closer to someone I cannot see. If I feel lonely or far away from him, I write him a letter telling him how I feel, and somehow that brings us closer together. It's difficult to describe, but writing to him and telling him things that are close to my heart before I ever even meet him have added an extra level of intimacy and trust that I would have never gotten had I waited until I could actually see him to start talking to him.
In a way, these letters have shown me how to get closer to God, too. So many of us wait until we can "see" God before we invest in Him. We wait until He performs a miracle in our lives, or works something out the way we want it to, or saves a loved one...and THEN we start investing in Him, start developing a relationship with Him. But God wants us to invest in Him now - before He performs a miracle, before we need Him for something, before we can see Him.
Isn't that what a life of faith is all about? Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Why do I spend all of this time writing letters to a phantom? Because I have faith that he is not a phantom; that he is a real, flesh-and-blood human being, and that someday I will meet him. If we can believe that future spouses exist, when they are still as of yet unmet, why is it so hard to believe that the God who created them exists and loves us? Where is our faith in God?
Hebrews 11
Faith in Action
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
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