It took me 16 minutes to read this passage. The writer spends a good deal of space expanding on the effects of God’s faith in the lives of the people who pursue him. It is faith that allows us to look at pain and suffering as works of grace from God’s hand. Situations that will build our faith and bring us in line with the people of faith mentioned in chapter 11. They were all ordinary people who, when placed in difficult situations, always chose to trust God in the middle of the test. Because of that faith reaction God used them in mighty ways. I’d like to say that my reactions to difficulties have always been motivated by faith, but they haven’t. I think it is important to notice the one name that is absent from the list in chapter 11; Jesus. Jesus also lived a life of faith, but the list provided shows us people who did not have a divine nature. This cloud of witnesses is made up of people, named and nameless, who were born into a nature that chooses sin over faith, but overcame than nature by the work of God’s Spirit in their lives. They show us what God is capable of accomplishing in us.
Stuart
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