Farewell to Shadowlands

It’s been a rough few weeks, hasn’t it? After the earthquake, I almost ran outside just to see if there was going to be a hail of fire and brimstone. Would you pray with me before we get started?

Now, some of us are probably battling anxiety and fear. Some of us are probably worried about older parents getting sick, or kids getting sick. Some of us are dealing with temporary layoffs, reduced work, or uncertainty about income. Some of us are self-employed or a business, and now have to figure out what to do with little to no income for a while.

Maybe you just watched your life savings drop thirty or forty percent in three weeks, maybe even retirement accounts that are supposed to be supporting you in the next few years.

Now, maybe you’re wondering why I’m not preaching a topical sermon on anxiety or dealing with tumultuous times. And my answer is that I thought about it—many of my fellow pastors are doing just that, and I know it will be helpful to their people.

But as I thought about it, I asked, “What text would I want my people to hear from in such a sermon?” And I realized that there are few texts that would be better for a sermon like that than those we find in Hebrews 11—this great chapter of Bible stories, telling us how our spiritual forefathers and foremothers walked through great trials by faith, trials that far surpass our own. They were able to walk through both beheading and winning kingdoms in faith. That means they didn’t waver in their trust of God when they went through trial, nor did they waver in their trust in God when they experienced abundance. The great need for all of us today in this uncertain time and every day for the rest of our lives—whether in abounding or lacking—is precisely that kind of faith.

Look with me, if you would, at Hebrews 11:8, and we will read through verse 19. This is the Word of the Living God:

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

-Hebrews 11:8–19