“In retrospect?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, January 4, 2025
Hebrews 11: 23-31 (Forward, p. 67) CEV p. 1268
I wonder whether people even discover that they had faith, or were acting in faith, only in retrospect. That is, they did something only because it seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. Take in point, the two individuals named in today’s account.
First there is the situation with Moses. Moses’ parents kept him hidden until he was three months old. We are told that ‘they saw that he was a beautiful child’ and so ‘were not afraid to disobey the king’s orders’ (verse 23). Yes, this could have been on account of their faith, but I wonder whether their love for this child should also be factored into a consideration of their decision.
And then there is his subsequent career. Our passage from Hebrews describes it in rather glowing, albeit one-sided, terms. “Then after Moses grew up, his faith made him refuse to be called the king’s grandson. He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the good time that sin could bring for a little while. Moses knew that the treasures of Egypt were not as wonderful as what he would receive from suffering for the Messiah, and he looked forward to his reward” (verses 24-26). This isn’t quite the way that the account from Exodus tells it. His decision to renounce his ties to Pharaoh’s household came of necessity, a necessity borne of his precipitous and rash decision to kill an Egyptian overseer who was physically abusing one of his fellow Hebrew countrymen. Here, he was moved with compassion, even if rather reckless in so doing, and so he was forced to flee for his very life and live in exile. No mention of ‘faith’ here.
And even in exile, there was little mention of his having faith, that is, until his decisive encounter with God at the burning bush. Yes, indeed, here he had ‘seen the invisible God’, and here he received his commission to return to Egypt and be God’s agent in freeing his people. And so, yes, here faith comes into play. Because of this encounter and this commission, he was ‘not afraid of the king’s anger’. And this faith continued to nourish and guide him also in the matter of the Passover and the deliverance at the Red Sea.
And, when it comes to Jericho, yes, it was the people’s faith that had them encircle that city’s walls for seven days. Now, with Rahab: was it her faith in God that prompted her hospitable welcome of the Hebrew spies, or was it her awareness of what God had done elsewhere and her calculation that it was better to ‘throw in her lot’ with such a God as this, a kind of self-interest or self-preservation? Yes, I think that there was something akin to faith here, but a lot more besides.
The reason that I ask all this is to pose a question, namely, do we, you and I, sometimes do things where we are unaware that we are subconsciously obeying God, unconsciously acting in faith, in trust towards God? Perhaps we are doing it, as far as we are concerned, because ‘it is the right thing to do’ or ‘the loving thing to do’, and only later discover that God was behind it and prompting it. I suspect that we act in faith far more than we know, far more than we give credit for. So, let us act in love, do what we think is the right thing to do, and then let the chips lay where they will. If this is faith, so be it. Let not worry whether it fits the description or not.
Forward notes: “By faith, [Moses] …persevered as though he saw him who is invisible” (verse 27).
“At the start of every new year, we are inundated with shiny offers of self-improvement ranging from ‘10 Ways to De- Clutter Your Home,’ to ‘5 Steps to Lose 5 Pounds.’ How-to lists offer a predictable security that’s hard to resist: if I simply do these things, I’ll be rewarded with success.
“I’ve often wished faith worked similarly, but faith is not simple. Faith is more a mystery and paradox than a tidy checklist we can work our way through. It roots us firmly, like a tree, in Christ, but also impels us to action, to go where we are led. It is granite-hard but receptive, like water. It sees the invisible despite having limited visibility.
“Faith, the writer of Hebrews tells us, is seeing God’s beauty in a child, facing the insurmountable, doing what seems impossible, and living without fear. It is looking ahead to a hopeful future while working to improve an often unhopeful-seeming present, even without seeing success. There are no easy steps to follow. Faith is a risk; I risk taking it because God is the guarantee.”
Moving Forward: “In a journal, write the words, ‘Faith is…’, then fill in the blank with as many descriptions as come to mind.”