I have been meditating, unexpectedly, on Hebrews chapter 4
for a while, the second verse in particular. I was listening to it in The
Message when it first hit me.
“We received the same promises as those people in the
wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t
receive the promises with faith.” TMB
This is a topic that Father and I have been cogitating on
together for many months. Now, I know that The Message is not the most literal
translation of the scriptures, so I wanted to see if the same idea existed in a
more precise translation.
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to
them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in those who heard it.” NKJV
Yep. It’s still there.
The topic I have been working on for a while is this. That
God’s promises are not the whole story. There’s more to this story, than just
God declaring wonderful promises to us.
Clearly, there has to be. There are so many amazing
promises, in Scripture, in public prophetic words, and our daily devotions. If
God making the promise was all that was needed for that promise to be
fulfilled, we would be living in a Heavenly Utopia right now.
But we’re not. Therefore, ipso facto, there must be more to
it.
And this verse tells us what that “more” is. If we don’t mix
the promises that he has given us with faith, then the promise goes
unfulfilled. The limitation is not his. It is ours.
Hebrews four declares that it has been this way for
thousands and thousands of years, since the journey to the promised land. This
is the reason that Israel did not inhabit some of the things that she was
promised.
And this is a reason that you and I have not experienced the
fullness of every one of our promises.
It is probably worth mentioning that the thing that is
holding us back is almost certainly not the thing that we *think* is holding us
back. It is almost certain that what we think is responding in faith to our
promises is not actually the same as what God thinks “mixing those promises
with faith” actually is.
We think we are responding to the promises with faith, but
either we are mistaken, or God is a liar. I know who I am going to believe in
this situation, and it’s not me. I’m going to believe that God is not a liar.
So I clearly have missed it on this one.
It is beyond the scope of this brief missive to discuss what
actual faith really is, what really will empower all of our promises. But if it
was the thing that we call faith, that we have called faith all of our lives,
then we would not be living the life that we are currently living, would we?
For the record, it’s pretty obvious that my own definitions
of mixing promises with faith have been inferior, or insufficient, also. I
suspect that this will be a topic of conversation between Father and myself for
quite some time. You are invited to join in this search with me.
