Hoekstra's Day by Day by Grace (November 11th)

Another Consequence of Accessing Grace through Faith

Who through faith…obtained promises. (Hebrews 11:33b)

In our current section of Scripture, we have begun to consider a summarized testimony of God's servants who experienced various consequences of accessing grace through faith. Two of these benefits were, they "subdued kingdoms" and "worked righteousness." These are wonderful realities, but these accounts show that relying upon the Lord can produce more consequences than these.

Another rich blessing that came from trusting in God was that they "obtained promises." Jeremiah, a mighty prophet of God, certainly experienced the benefit of fulfilled promises from the Lord. He was given a challenging call to root out and destroy entrenched ungodliness so that a fresh work of God might begin. "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:9-10). The religious establishment would come strongly against him, but God promised to sustain and protect him. "'They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to deliver you'" (Jeremiah 1:19). The promised opposition surely came. "Therefore the princes said to the king, 'Please, let this man be put to death'…So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon…which was in the court of the prison" (Jeremiah 38:4, 6). More importantly, the promised rescue came as well. "So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison…then they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah…that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people" (Jeremiah 38:13; 39:14). Even more importantly, the Lord continued to speak to and through His servant in the midst of it all. "Now the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison" (Jeremiah 39:15).

We may not have a prophetic calling exactly like Jeremiah. However, we are all called "to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude v. 3). If we faithfully respond, many will oppose us as well. We, too, will need to "obtain promises." We will need to rely upon God's promised protection. "He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'…So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6).