Hebrews 11:25 - The Faith of Moses.
Hebrews 11:25 - The Faith of Moses.
Hebrews 11:25 (KJV) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Hebrews 11:25 (AMP) Because he preferred to share the oppression
[suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather
than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.
Hebrews 11:25 (MSG) He chose a hard life with God's people
rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors.
INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW
Faith is confidence in God that leads to obedience to God.
True faith is based on what God says and is demonstrated in what we
do. People with faith do things for God, and God does things for
them.
Faith is not a luxury; it is a necessity. It is for common
people and not just great leaders. We need faith for worshiping (v. 4)
as well as for working (v. 7), walking (vv. 8-9), waiting (vv.
10-12), and warring (vv. 30-34). In any area of life where you ignore
faith, you will sin (Rom. 14:23).
The phrase "still others" (v. 36) reminds us that we can live
by faith and appear to be defeated. Not everybody who trusted God
was delivered or protected (vv. 36-40). But the important thing is
not God's deliverance; it is God's approval (v. 39). Faith in God
gives you the ability to endure when others are giving up.
Where does this faith come from? Read Romans 10:17 and 15:4.
[Chapter by Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe]
The pleasures of sin are, and will be, but short; they must end
either in speedy repentance or in speedy ruin. The pleasures of this
world are for the most part the pleasures of sin; they are always so
when we cannot enjoy them without deserting God and his people.
Suffering is to be chosen rather than sin; there being more evil in the
least sin, than there can be in the greatest suffering. [Matthew Henry
Commentary]
COMMENTARY APPLICATION
Your Attention, Please
Toddlers are notorious for their short attention spans. Older
children and especially adults, however, can fix their attention on
something for quite some time. Have you ever tried to pull a ten-year-old
away from a favorite video game? Or how about trying to pull an avid
sports fan away from the game of the week?
It is with this kind of absorption that the writer of Hebrews
says we should fix our attention on Jesus. Unlike video games and
sporting events, focusing our entire attention on Jesus can benefit us in
many ways, the most important of which is a deep relationship with
God.
Jesus suffered tremendous humiliation, injustice, and
physical pain to do God's will (Hebrews 12:2-4). Strangers arrested him
for crimes he didn't commit, beat him, mocked him, and spat on him.
Friends deserted him. His heavenly Father left him to die alone. He died
slowly and painfully in the company of common thieves. He became an
offering for our sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). That is the price Jesus
paid to obey his heavenly Father.
The struggles you endure to follow Jesus are real. It takes
energy and commitment to say no to sinful desires, to do good deeds
that you don't want to do, and to discipline yourself to pray and
study God's Word on a regular basis.
When you feel discouraged in your Christian life, think of
Jesus and all he went through to do what God wanted. Then take heart
knowing that you can do what God requires of you by his strength and
grace. Stay focused on him. [The One Year Through the Bible Devotional
by Dave Veerman]
Keeping Our Focus
Instead of listening to the voices of Pharaoh and the
naysayers among his own people, Moses turned to God and kept right on
going in the direction the Lord led. Instead of fixing his eyes on the
treasures of Egypt, he looked ahead and understood the infinitely great
value of the things that are not seen and was willing to suffer rather
than stay in Pharaoh's court and prosper. Moses kept his eyes on God.
He left the power and prestige of Egypt and chose God's people and
promises though it meant difficulty, because he was focused on one thing:
obeying God's voice. That single-minded, whole-hearted focus kept him
unafraid of the terrible wrath of Pharaoh. It was the source of his
confidence and strength as he led the Israelites out of bondage and through
the Red Sea. So it is with us: keeping our eyes on the One who is
invisible instead of on the overwhelming problems or difficult people in
our paths, we can keep going wherever God leads us. And as we are
fixed on him, we perceive the realities of the unseen and find the key
to walking by faith, not by sight.
LORD, help me today to keep my eyes on you who are invisible.
Fill me with faith and focus like Moses had so that I will not be
afraid and can keep following wherever you lead. I desire to be
obedient to your call on my life. Help me to walk: by faith and not by
sight and to understand the greater value of things unseen. [Praying
Through The Bible By Fuller re vvs. 26, 27]
Giving God Excuses
John Ortberg puts himself in Moses' place when Moses saw the
burning bush and was told by God that he was the one to rescue his
people from slavery. When Moses heard God's commands to confront
Pharaoh, wouldn't he have felt that God's timing was extremely strange?
Forty years earlier, Moses had been at the peak of life,
living as the privileged son of the pharaoh, with powerful connections
and ways of getting things done. Now he was an eighty-year-old
fugitive, a nobody, living in a desert.
Moses was stunned by God's command. He objected, saying that
he was not the one to confront Pharaoh. What was God thinking?
We may not see burning bushes or hear commands as dramatic as
what God told Moses. Yet what we have to do and the timing of God's
answers to our prayers may seem just as strange. We feel inadequate, or
we feel this isn't the best time for something to happen. We feel
we're trapped in circumstances or that God expects more of us than we
can possibly deliver.
Just as God led Moses through incredible adventures that
would change all of human history, he still leads those who stop and
listen to him. Sometimes the messages seem garbled or unrealistic, but
as we pray and seek the leading of his Spirit, we also become part
of God's drama.
John Ortberg says that when we respond to God, "ordinary
people can receive power for extraordinary change." All those excuses
that Moses cast up to God so he could duck out became irrelevant.
Moses obeyed and returned to Egypt, facing Pharaoh again and becoming
the conduit for God's power.
We each have our pharaohs to face. When we stop and listen to
God and then move at the impulse of his love, we, too, can become
conduits for his work in the world.
Lord, I've stopped what I'm doing for the moment and am
listening. Help me to hear you clearly and then to take courage to do what
you ask. Courage and stamina must come from you, Father. Strengthen
me, I pray. [The One Year Book of Encouragement by Harold Myra re
vs. 27]
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
To put it simply--the secret of his faith was that Moses knew
God personally. To every task he came out from God's presence. . . .
When we come to it straight from God's presence, no task can ever
defeat us. Our failure and our fear are so often due to the fact that
we try to do things alone. The secret of victorious living is to
face God before we face men. [Barclay Commentary]
Moses made a life-changing decision on that day he renounced his
old life and identified with God's family. His environment changed;
his circle of friends changed; his life-style changed; his
opportunities changed; and his future changed - forever. Not many of us
realized that, at the time of our conversion, all of these same things
changed for us, too. Or did they? What difference has accepting Christ
really made in your life? Can you list any sacrifices that resulted?
Have you suffered at all, in any area? Have relationships changed
since that time? If nothing has changed in your life, then it is
likely that what you experienced was not a conversion experience.
Think about it. [In His Time Walk With Wisdom]
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON EXPERIENCING GOD:
http://sda.biggytv.com/watch/Revive!_-_Dwight_Nelson:_Experiencing_Gods_Grace/revive/
