Day 2
a long race
To Start
Sit in silence for 1 minute before you begin.
For the first few days this may be the hardest part of your time with Yahweh, but after practice you’ll likely come to love it.
Pray
If you’re coming to Scripture this morning with pressing pains, hopes, or needs, take time to offer them up to Yahweh. When your spirit feels quiet (or maybe just quieter), move into reading.
Father, Author of our lives, meet us in Scripture today. Show us why you’ve drawn us to this text. Surface things buried or ignored in our hearts.
Feed us with Your Word. Satisfy our longings, and make us even more hungry for You.
Read
Yesterday we read the entire chapter. Today we won’t read a word of it. Instead we’ll focus on the verses just before and the verses just after chapter 11.
Read Hebrews 10:35-39 & 12:1-2.
Summarize each reading in one or two sentences.
According to these passages, what do God’s people need as they wait for Him and run the race?
Given this context, what’s the point of Hebrews 11? What is the author trying to teach us?
If something else sticks out to you as you read, attend to it. Why do you need those words planted in your heart today?
Hebrews 10:35-39 (CSB)
35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.
37 For yet in a very little while,
the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
I have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (CSB)
1Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
From JL
The book of Hebrews is one of my favorites. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. Every time I read it I find something new.
Hebrews is unique among the New Testament epistles in a few ways:
First, we don’t know who wrote it. Plenty of scholars have made guesses. Top contenders include the Apostle Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, and Clement. My favorite possibility is Priscilla of the Priscilla and Aquila duo—though she’d be an unlikely winner. You can read more about authorship theories HERE.
Second, Hebrews is not addressed to a church or an individual but rather to an entire nation or people group. The first words of Hebrews are “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors.” Whose ancestors? The Hebrews’ ancestors. The author of Hebrews assumes his audience will have deep familiarity with the ins and outs of Jewish religious life and history.
Third, Hebrews isn’t shaped like most of the other epistles. 1&2 Corinthians, for example, hop from topic to topic, engaging with issues and questions in the local church context. Hebrews is more like oratory or a persuasive essay. The form is intentional, artful even. Much care has been shown to craft a pathway from chapter 1, verse 1 all the way through to the end.
Because Hebrews is a book unified in purpose, it’s impossible to dip into Hebrews 11 without an understanding of that purpose. Here’s a quick summary of the book’s ambition:
The Hebrews writer wants his people to receive Jesus as the fulfillment of God the Father’s promises and as the pathway to the Father Himself. He sees Jesus not as an interloper (many Jews did) but as the natural harvest of all Yahweh has planted in the past.
When we arrive at Hebrews 10, the author has established Jesus’ identity as high priest and perfect sacrifice and now launches into an exploration of what it looks like to receive Him.
We read in chapter 10, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus… and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering” (19-23).
Chapter 10 is a hinge point in the narrative. The author looks back at what’s been proven and then turns to look ahead at what that reality necessitates. The author says, Because Jesus is who He is, we should do something.
Somethings actually (beginning with “draw near”). Everything from here on out will be about our responsive behavior. How will we act in light of who Jesus is and what He’s done?
“But wait, JL,” you’ll say. “Hebrews 11 isn’t about action; it’s about faith.”
Hold that thought.
Today we read the verses before and after Hebrews 11. As you surely noticed, both passages are about endurance:
For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised…
Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us…
The author of Hebrews is admitting it’s hard to keep following Jesus. It’s hard to believe God will keep His promises. It’s hard to obey someone you can’t see. It’s hard to believe in a Heavenly city you’ve never been to. And it’s hard to suffer the inevitable consequences of living one way in a world that lives another.
Add to that the fact that you might wait years for Yahweh to keep a promise. You might never see the impact of your faithful obedience here on earth. Every morning you wake up and persevere in the good works God’s prepared for you without knowing when it will all pay off (Ephesians 2: 10).
It’s hard, the Hebrews writer acknowledges, but it’s been done.
How?
By faith.
Faith is the thing that fuels our active reliance on and obedience to Yahweh. It’s the engine that keeps us going.
When we think we can’t wait any longer
When we think surely we’re crazy to build our entire lives on an invisible foundation
When it’s just too hard to do it God’s way
Faith is the thing that pushes us forward.
This concept is everywhere in Hebrews 11 (it’s the bottom line truth of the chapter), so rest assured, we’ll sit in it for weeks.
Today let’s start by meditating on this one personal question:
What do you need to endure right now?
What’s taxing you? What’s draining you? What promise are you waiting for God to keep? What action is He calling you into? How or where is He asking you to rely on Him?
Ask God to show you the answer.
And then, over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll let God show us how we’re going to persevere.
Process
What fuels you these days? What are you turning to for energy or power when you need to keep going? What kind(s) of engines have you tried in the past? What worked? What didn’t?
In Hebrews 12:1-2 Jesus is set up as an example of endurance. What is it that motivates Jesus to endure the cross? Might His motivation work for you, too?
Pray
Take a moment to talk directly to God about something you’ve learned, realized, or been reminded of today.
In the Comments
Today I’m interested in us drafting a good starter definition for “faith.” Let’s hear what you have:
Faith is…
(This definition will grow as we continue to study. Don’t feel like you have to offer something immaculate.)
See you tomorrow!
JL
Faith is staying when all I want to do is run.
Faith is that tiny seed (think mustard seed), implanted in my soul at conception, a gift from God, primed to grow and bloom as the soil of my being (environment) is nurtured by life. Sometimes it is well-watered and nourished with the finest food. Sometimes it struggles with drought, hardships, disappointments, questions, suffering. But it's there - by God's grace - and thanks to God it continues to grow and takes over even in dark times. Faith is my victory over darkness and struggle! Thanks be to God for his amazing gift of faith!