Faithfulness, aliens, saints and perseverance

November 20, 2013

I was up for awhile the other night in the middle of the night and was drawn back to reading Hebrews 11 and 12.

All the folks described in Hebrews 11 remained faithful – they each heard a promise from God and they pursued it even though all of them never saw the complete fulfillment of any of those promises during their lifetimes.  They knew they were “aliens and sojourners on this earth” (or foreigners and refugees as one translation says) and so they remained faithful as they continued to “look for a country of their own”, a final destination afar off.

What I find equally fascinating are the verses that immediately follow this chapter as chapter 12 opens with, “since we are surrounded by such a great a cloud of witnesses.”  It is implied that these witnesses include all those faithful saints named in Hebrews 11, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the lot, as well as all the saints who have followed – the famous ones like Paul, John, and Peter.  Further, I chose to believe that this great cloud even includes people like Daniel and others whom I have loved and lost in my lifetime.

All these saints in this great cloud are somehow surrounding us, witnessing our lives and perhaps engaged at some level and cheering us on as we, like them, seek to “run with perseverance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” as the following verses point out to us.

Thus, I am running the race set before me, hopefully with perseverance before this great cloud of witnesses, recognizing that I too am a sojourner or refugee on this earth just as they were before me.

For this father who can’t stop longing for this son, somehow this gives me great hope and courage to get up and face the new day full of its challenges with my aging parents, my job and its politics, living with my grief, and much, much more.

I hold dearly to this notion that Daniel is somehow mysteriously among those witnesses who are watching me pursue this race – this vision of my own son cheering me on in this life gives me great comfort.

God:  give me that perseverance to run my race as a refugee in this world, knowing that Daniel and many others are watching and cheering me on.  

Thanks be to God!