“They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
Hebrews 11:37–40
We live in a results-oriented world. If we do not receive what we expect to get, we think that something has gone wrong. We would quickly lose faith in a company that never delivered the products we ordered. We would not keep on doing business with them. Yet when it comes to faith in God, that results-focused attitude does not work. It is not that God is unfaithful and cannot be trusted. Rather, we cannot expect Him to work according to our plans and schedules. He is bringing His plan to perfect completion, and that means we may not see all of the things we would like to see.
The Old Testament saints did not receive the full measure of what was promised during their lifetimes. This was not because of their failure or an unfaithfulness on God’s part, but simply a function of the timing of God’s plan. Though it goes against the grain of our society, the reality is that we are not the center of the universe—God is. His purposes and plans bless and benefit us in many ways, but that is not the primary function of His plan. God is working to bring about His ultimate purpose for all of His creation. “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Ephesians 1:10).
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