“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:32-40 ESV)
Hebrews, chapter 11, is regarded as the “faith chapter” of the Bible, for it tells us of many of the saints of old and of their faith which was proved genuine by their obedience to the Lord in doing what he told them to do (in most all cases). For the things that they did in obedience to what the Lord called them to do they did by faith in God, and it was not of their own doing, of their own flesh, in their own power and strength. But they did what they did in the power of God and under his direction (in most all cases).
Yet those who walked by faith, and who did as the Lord commanded them to do, faced hardships, rejections, and persecutions, too, and even death. In fact Abel, the first person mentioned, was killed by his own brother Cain who was jealous of him and who resented him because God approved his brother Abel’s sacrifice but not his own. And Noah constructed an ark for the saving of his household, but everyone else on the earth was destroyed because of their rebellion against God and their refusal to bow to him.
And Moses was called of God to lead the children of God out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land, but the people didn’t listen to him, for the most part, and they rebelled, and they went their own way, and they worshipped idols and they engaged in sexual immorality and they complained all the time and they engaged in drunkenness and revelry, etc. (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13). And so most of them died in the wilderness and did not enter into God’s eternal rest.
So it appears that none of the faithful servants of the Lord had an easy life, and pretty much all of them faced some amount of persecution and opposition, and many of them died horrible and torturous and painful deaths because of their walks of faith and obedience to God. And that is not to say that all of them were perfect all the time, either, but that, at some point in their lives, they acted by faith in the Lord, they did as the Lord wanted them to do, and God honored them for it, but they may have died horrific deaths because of their obedience to the Lord.
All of these have not yet been made complete in Christ. That will only come when Jesus Christ returns for his faithful bride and he takes us all to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete and our relationship with Jesus Christ will be spiritually consummated. Then all who have died as followers of God/Christ will be given glorified bodies and we will all be changed. The dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive and remaining will be caught up together with the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
But while we wait for our Lord’s return, if we are walking in faithful obedience to him, by God-gifted faith in him, we are going to face hardships, rejections, and persecutions for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of his gospel, and for the sake of righteousness, because we live in a sinful wicked world among evil people who will hate us because of our faith and because of our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord. But we are not to fear what might happen to us, but we are to keep trusting in our Lord.
[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]
Hear My Cry
By G. M. Eldridge
When my soul is worn and weary
And my eyes are filled with grief,
When my hands in desperation
Reach to heaven for relief,
Would I find the words there waiting
If I had the strength to start?
Could a mortal tongue interpret
All the sorrow of a heart?
Spirit, search me in my weakness,
And discern this growing gray.
Intercede in understanding,
Hear the things I cannot say.
Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,
You have known my ev’ry pain.
You have seen all my sorrow,
Hear my cry once again.
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