I (Michèle) was recently reading Hebrews 11 where we get somewhat of a summary about how Old Testament heroes lived “by faith.” In verse 6 we read, “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

The author of Hebrews uses the examples of Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Isaac, etc. (also known as the Hall of Faith) to show the importance of trusting God and living by faith. This goes on for almost 40 verses. The definition of faith is given in the first verse, which reads “it is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (ESV). The Message translations explains: “the fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.”

Hebrews 11 serves as a reminder that, even when times are tough, we have a faith to cling to. I have an all-powerful God who stands behind me and looks out for me. When things don’t go as I had planned, he has something better in store. I firmly believe that it is in difficult situations where our faith is put to the test. None of the OT heroes had it easy. They waited years and years for what God promised–only seeing glimpses of it beforehand. Often, he came through in different, greater ways, than expected.

The cool thing is that the same God who came through for the OT heroes is the same God today. It is up to us to live by faith even if we only see glimpses of what God has in store. He will come through even if it’s different than expected. OT Heroes worked towards Jesus’ coming but never got to witness the fulfillment of that prophecy. We on the other hand, have the privilege to enjoy Christ’s fulfillment on our behalf. How much more of a reason is that then to live by faith? We get to see the fruit of his coming day by day—OT heroes lived by faith based on the promise of something better to come.