In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 11:8-12

(ESV) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

As the author of Hebrews highlights examples of faith from Israel's past, he invests extra time looking at the father of the nation, Abraham.

v. 8-10
Abraham's faith was exercised by following God's command to leave his security and familiar surroundings to go to an unknown place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And yet before receiving it, he would have to live there as a foreigner in a tent instead of truly settling down. In fact he, his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, ALL lived in tents in this land that they were to inherit... until they died.

We don't read about these three men saying "what is going on? I thought I was supposed to own this place!" Why? Because they understood that God was doing something bigger than just giving them a patch of land. He was preparing to build, from the ground up, a new place for his people to live. We still haven't seen that city, but it's coming, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be there to share it as an inheritance for all of God's people.

v.11

Genesis 18:9 says that Sarah laughed at the idea that God would enable her to have a child with Abraham. So this verse in Hebrews may not make sense at first. This verse puzzles a number of scholars, but there are two possibilities that make the best sense to me.

The first is that Sarah eventually "came around" to having faith that Yawheh would do what he said, and therefore participated with Abraham in attempts at reproduction.

The second is that it was specifically by Abraham's faith that Sarah "received power to conceive" and the "she" pronouns should in fact be "he" pronouns in the remainder of the verse. (The pronouns here do not exist in the original Greek and are a matter of interpretation. And the context before and after this verse has Abraham as the subject.)

v.12

Because of faith, biology was overturned by God and the unthinkable happened, resulting in not just one baby, but the creation of an entire nation and beyond, as now all believers share in the inheritance promised to Abraham.

SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

I don't exactly see Spock as a role model, but I do highly value logic as a tool for seeking out the truth on any given subject. I think a lot of geeks value logic. But I wonder if sometimes we can limit ourselves from engaging in what God has for us "in the name of logic".

When I think God may be calling me to do something, I can ask myself "Why would God want me to do this?" In the audio version of this segment on the podcast recently I brought up my baptism, which took place a couple years ago. I had been baptized as an infant but became convinced over the years that the Biblical model of baptism was one of professing believers, not infants. And yet I held off thinking, "God knows my heart. He doesn't need me to do this again. He's timeless! He can retroactively apply my present belief to my infant baptism, right?"

When I shared these thoughts with my mentor, he seemed gifted in that moment to peer right into my heart and said "Sometimes we just need to obey without understanding all the reasons." After that I felt more compelled, both intellectually and emotionally, to willingly participate in this symbolic act. I didn't want to miss out on any potential blessing that might come from me choosing to do this, just because I couldn't wrap my head around WHY God would want someone in my specific situation to do this. (Or because of my pride, which was also a factor.)


Most commands in scripture I can see good reason for. But because of that I can fall into the problem of only obeying commands that I can personally see good reason for. And this leaves me stagnant in my growth and only able to learn some things the hard way. I can appeal to grace and say, "Since I don't understand this, it must not be that important, and God will forgive me anyway if I'm wrong." But that isn't the model of faith in the Bible.

Real faith obeys even when we don't understand God's reasoning, and results in greater participation in what God is doing and greater reward when God fulfills his promises.