Living by Faith (Heb. 10:37-39)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-23-03

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Living by faith

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Hebrews 10: 37-39

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “37 For, yet a very little and the One coming will come, "and will not delay.’ Hab. 2:3 38  ‘But the just shall live by faith;" "and if he draws back,’ ‘My soul is not pleased in him.’ Hab. 2:4 39 But we are not of those withdrawing to destruction, but of faith, to the preservation of the soul.”  (Greens)  “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.  And a righteous person will live by faith.  But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away.  But we are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate.  We have faith that assures our salvation.”  (NLT)

            If I am not mistaken this is the promise that the writer has wrote about in verse 36.  It is a quotation from the OT books of Isaiah and Habakkuk that the writer is using to show the promise of God to them that continue fast in their faith.  As stated before the Habakkuk 2:4 passage is used in three New Testament books and in each book the emphases is on a different part of the verse.  In the case of Hebrews the phrase being emphasized is “by faith.” 

            Also as stated before the writer is writing to Jewish believers who are tempted to go back into Judaism and he is encouraging them not to do that a seen in verse 38b where he says “and if he draws back, My soul is not pleased in him.”  The one whom He is pleased in is the one who walks by faith as the first part of verse 38 speaks about.  He goes on to say that those who are believers are not withdrawing to destruction but because of the believer’s faith will have our soul’s preserved.

            I want to quote Warren Wiersbe on his comments on verse 39:  “The believer who lives by faith will ‘go on to perfection’ (6:1).  But the believer who lives by sight will ‘draw back unto perdition’ (10:39).  What is ‘perdition’ in this context?  The Greek word translated ‘perdition’ is used about 20 times in the New Testament and is translated by different words:  ‘perish’ (Acts 8:20), ‘die’ (Acts 25:16), ‘destruction’ (Rom. 9:22), and ‘waste’ (Matt. 26:8).  The word can mean eternal judgment, but it need not in every instance.  I personally believe that ‘waste’ is the best translation for this work in Hebrews 10:39.  A believer who does not walk by faith goes back into the old ways and wastes his live.

            “The saving of the soul’ is the opposite of ‘waste.’  To walk by faith means to obey God’s Word and live for Jesus Christ.  We lose our lives for His sake—but we save them!  (See Matt. 16:25-27).  In my won pastoral ministry, I have met people who turned their back on God’s will and (like Israel) spent years ‘wandering in the wilderness’ of waste.”

            “But we can be confident!  As we walk by faith, our great High Priest will guide us and perfect us!”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to be one of Christ’s followers who learn to walk by faith, as I surely need to do so in the storm of life that I find myself in at this present time.  I would pray that the Lord will give me wisdom as to what I am suppose to do in a tangible way.  I know the first thing He would want me to do is to pray, as praying should not be something done as a “last resort,” on the contrary it should be the very first thing to do.

 

The Word of God was indeed challenging to me as I read it this morning, and at the same time it was refreshing.

            My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord in these circumstances that I find myself in.  To be open to the Lord’s voice as He speaks to me through His Word and by His Spirit, and also in this storm that He has lead me into.