Endure

Heb 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.


Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.


The promises of God are sure. The promises of God are everlasting. The promises of God are given to us- all of us- and they are promises that won't be broken, that can't be broken.


Promises can take a long time to fulfill. The trouble with us we want instant fulfillment. Or, maybe we aren't expecting instant fulfillment, but we expect our promises to be fulfilled in a timely fashion. We set dates on our promises a lot of time. A promise isn't really broken unless there is a time limit attached to it, right? I'm not saying it's bad to make time limited promises, we almost have to don't we? I promise to get that room clean. It's no good to make that promise and not keep it in a timely fashion. Thirty years later and the room still isn't clean, well that's just crazy, right? I promise to love you. Now there's a promise we want to go on forever, don't we? I promise to be good. Another promise that hopefully won't ever end. We can promise things that might take a while though, can't we? I promise we'll go on vacation in Europe someday. What happens if that promise isn't kept in say ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years? People stop believing as time goes on that promises will be kept. They lose hope that it will be kept. Maybe at forty years later finally it's possible for that vacation and the promise is kept- all is good. But that's not always the case with us and our promises. We sometimes make promises that are not kept, in fact we do it ALL the time. Why though? Why do we make promises we don't keep? Good intentions? Mostly likely it is good intentions although some times promises are made that are made with no intention of them being kept. A promise made to pacify someone. Yes, I'll love you and stay with you forever. Then the next day they're gone.


Promises.


Abraham was promised that his seed would be multiplied - that he would have many, many descendents. And upon having received that promise it is logical to imagine that he believed the promise would be fulfilled in a timely fashion. Years go by, years and years and years. And Abraham wasn't without fault. He did doubt… He did. So when we read that 'he had patiently endured' it doesn't mean he didn't have his doubts. He took Sarah's maid to have children with her at Sarah's request. People sometimes try to lay the blame for that on Sarah, but would Abraham have agreed to take Hagar and have children with her if he wasn't doubting at all?


We have our doubts in our walk with Christ, even as we hope for Salvation and have faith, we do sometimes doubt. Can we doubt without wavering? You can. You know what I’m talking about don't you? You keep doing something, you keep at it even though you aren't sure it will work out. You might even voice your doubt but you keep on keeping on as the saying goes. Your actions say you are in it until the end no matter the outcome. You are in it until the end, you know you are, but that doesn't keep you from wondering, it doesn't keep you from doubting that you're doing the right thing.


Life is tumultuous at best. We have hope in our own lives because we know that some of God's beloved had doubts, that some of God's beloved were blatant sinners who repented- giving us hope. We have our examples of faith, faith that believes even if doubts are apparent.


Have you ever trusted in someone but doubted in them at the same time? I know I have. That desire to trust them is there, the hope to trust them is there, but doubts rear up their ugly heads and while we continue to trust we doubt. We have faith even through all the doubts, doubts Satan will play on hoping that we'll lose faith, that we'll stop hoping, that we'll stop believing.


Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.


He patiently endured. He endured through the doubts. He persevered through the doubts. He didn't waver- He didn't turn his back on God even though he tried to work out how God was going to do as He promised, believing that maybe he had to help God out.


We have to endure through all our doubts. We can't waver though we doubt. We have to keep on through all the turmoil life throws at us. We might question but through all the questions that faith has to remain. Through all the misunderstanding, we have to remain in love. Love is a choice and we have to choose love always in Christ!


By His Grace! By His Love! In Him Always!



Amen.