The sufferings of faith
Some Christians are all about “faith.” They speak that word a lot.
Hearing that word, you may know the type. You may be the type.
What do those Christians say when they talk about faith? If you’re thinking the same thing I am, you’re thinking prosperity. Healing. Miracles. Abundant life. Those things are associated by those people with faith.
As with all things, let’s search the Scriptures to see what the word of God has to say about faith. This won’t be a comprehensive survey, but when it comes to faith, there’s one chapter that comes to many Christians’ minds: Hebrews 11. The “Hall of Faith.”
That chapter contains many inspiring stories of faith, and of God’s promises. There are spectacular acts of God, like the parting of the Red Sea and the falling walls of Jericho. Some of the mighty feats mentioned in verses 33-35 include subduing kingdoms, stopping the mouths of lions, sending enemy armies fleeing, and raising the dead.
But keep reading:
“… Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise …”
That passage probably doesn’t come up much when Christians talk about faith.
Some of those Christians would say that if you’re suffering, if you’re going through a trial, if things don’t turn out the way you want, you need more faith. You need to press in in faith. You need to have persevering faith. Things will go better if you have faith.
But keep in mind that the people who are talked about in verses 35-39 are in the Hall of FAITH. There was nothing deficient about their faith. They were people of exemplary FAITH.
People of FAITH were tortured.
People of FAITH were mocked and scourged.
People of FAITH were chained and imprisoned.
People of FAITH were stoned, sawn in two, and slain with the sword.
People of FAITH were destitute, afflicted and tormented.
People of FAITH wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves.
And, according to the word of God, things never got any better for these people in this life. They “did not receive the promise.” They died in their suffering.
A passage earlier in the chapter likewise talks about those who “died in faith, not having received the promises” (verse 13). Verse 16 says of them, “they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.”
This is why their faith is exemplary. This is why they’re in the Hall of Faith.
Because their faith was not in this world. It was not in the comforts of prosperity or health. It was not in this life.
They didn’t suffer in spite of their faith. They suffered because of it. And their sufferings magnified their faith.
It’s easy to have “faith” when everything’s going well. Real faith is when you’re being sawn in two for it.
Verse 39 says the people who suffered those horrors “obtained a good testimony through faith,” echoing verse 2. They’re highly spoken of in the word of God. The people who went through all those terrible things had the favor of God.
There was a documentary film a few years ago titled “Facing the Darkness.” It was about Christian doctors who served in Liberia during the height of the ebola crisis. Some of them contracted the virus themselves, and the second half of the film is about the fight for their lives.
One of them, Dr. Kent Brantly, said, “my faith gave me ebola.”
Meaning, his faith was the reason he was there in the first place. His faith was the reason he risked his life to help others. “Faith is not something that makes you safe,” he said.
Thus says the Lord, in Hebrews 11.
