The book of Hebrews is always a fascinating book to read. It has one of the most critical opening verses in all of scriptures, just like the book of Genesis and the first epistle of John.
However, most Christians – I imagine – are more familiar with the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews than they are with any other chapter, and with good reason; it’s one of the chapters that dealt with faith.
If you have never read through the book of Hebrews, I urge and encourage you to do so. Today, though, there is a verse that I want to bring to your notice:
[32] And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Hebrews 11:32-33
[33] Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
I especially want to draw your attention to that 33rd verse; “who through faith subdued kingdoms.”
In verse 32, we see an assortment of men, from regular men to prophets, and something that we find that they exhibited in their life and times is Faith. The writer was saying saying in a nutshell that if we ever saw any remarkable outcomes from their lives, it must have been because they engaged the agency of faith.
Let’s take David for example, a warrior king who fought several wars. Some of those wars are stuffs of legend; the complexities and strategies involved were off the chart. Now, in the light of this verse, we are seeing that not only were the decisions to undertake those wars acts of faith, but that the execution and engagement was in itself an act of faith.
What am I getting at? Sometimes we think that we need faith as the catalyst for engagement, but faith doesn’t stop there. The very act of doing that engagement is also a demonstration of faith.
It was through faith they conquered kingdoms. Faith isn’t limited to the assurance of our hearts, it also extends to the deployment of our hands.
In our lives there are certain steps, actions and undertakings that we would have to take, not just because we have faith but that those engagement would have to be carried as acts of faith.
The 20th chapter of Second Chronicles is a clear illustration of this.
Faith is also stepping out and doing that which we are supposed to do whilst sustaining trust in God. There is nothing passive about this at all.
If we would ever subdue, if we would ever become the people we were recreated to be and do that which we were called to do, it must be through the agency of Faith.
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