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Interlude


          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.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  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. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

          The author of Hebrews brings the tour to a screeching halt as he swings his arm back to the portraits we’ve passed. Those five folks that he has been praising? At no point in their lives did they get what God had promised. That creates a bit of a problem for the folks who insist, “If you just had enough faith.” And didn’t Jesus say that if we had enough faith, a mountain could be cast into the sea? What are we to make of that? 
          First, God isn’t a performing circus poodle. He doesn’t do tricks on command. He’s also not a vending machine. You can’t plunk in your faith coins and have an instantaneous sweet treat. Both of those ideas (which we never express so crassly) make us into gods, and God into a slave.  
          Secondly, the fact is that God can do miracles. He can give us the thing for which we’ve been trusting Him. Sometimes, He does. Other times, death takes too long, or comes too soon, pain and sorrow continue, trials don’t end. Sometimes, we focus more on what we have faith for than on what we have faith in. Sometimes, our faith is for something too small, even if it’s for life itself. 
          We’re told that what these five folks actually longed for, and what they died without receiving was a heavenly country. Yes, Abraham was promised the land, but while that was nice, what he really wanted was God. This is the key. The faith for which they were commended wasn’t the enduring, “I’m going to get _________.” It was that they held on to God by faith, regardless of their getting the ________. 
            Their faith wasn’t always perfect. We may have our Hagars and Ishmaels. The question is, and will always be that when the dust settles, do we have God?

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