People of Faith

We’re thrilled to hear from Jennifer Epperson this week! Be sure to stop by the contributors page to learn more about her.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I read through Hebrews 11, I’m confused about some of the people listed in the “Hall of Faith.” Sarah? Gideon? Samson?

The Sarah who tried to rush the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son by encouraging Abraham to conceive a child with her handmaid Hagar (Genesis 16)? The Sarah who laughed at the thought that she might have a child at her advanced age (Genesis 18)?

But Hebrews 11:11 says, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Abraham named their promised son Isaac, meaning someone who laughs or rejoices. In Genesis 21: 6, Sarah says, “God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.” Sarah recognized that God had turned her laughter of disbelief into laughter of rejoicing by fulfilling his promise to give her and Abraham a son. 

And what about Gideon? In Judges 6, the angel of the LORD appears to Gideon, saying, “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (verse 12). Gideon’s answer? “Oh, my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of. . . ? But now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (verse 13).

The LORD assures Gideon (despite his disbelief) that he will use him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon doubts this because he is from a poor family and is the “least in [his] fathers’ house” (verse 15). The LORD tries to encourage him, and Gideon asks for a sign, which the LORD provides. Later in the chapter, even after the LORD has provided Gideon with a large army, Gideon puts out the fleece for yet another sign.

Once God proves Himself, Gideon is ready to war against the Midianites. God dwindles the army down to 300 men (so that all will know the victory is HIS), and, somehow, Gideon doesn’t ask for another sign that they will be victorious. But the LORD gives him one!

Judges 7:9b-11a says, “Arise, get thee down to the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.”

Gideon indeed goes with Phurah and hears of a man’s dream and his friend’s interpretation—God has delivered Midian into the hands of Gideon and Israel. Gideon worships God when he hears this and tells the army to move forward, and God does give them victory over Midian. 

When we read about Gideon asking for signs, doubting God’s promised victory, it’s easy to see him as faithless. But Gideon does move forward into battle. And when God decreased his army, Gideon didn’t ask for a sign, but God gave him one anyway. He knew Gideon—He knew that Gideon was one who needed reassurance—and He gave him that. 

Then there’s Samson—an immoral man, an arrogant man—a man who didn’t keep his Nazarite vows. Samson’s infatuation with Delilah leads to his betrayal and the Philistines removing his hair and eyes and taking him prisoner. Standing with his hands upon the pillars supporting a roof holding about 3,000 Philistines, Samson calls out, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judges 16:28).

In verse 30, Samson says, “Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” 

True, Samson did not always live a life that pleased, God, but God was with him from birth, until his hair was cut (Judges 16: 19,20). When Samson recognized an opportunity to avenge the Philistines one last time, he didn’t rely on the fact that his hair was beginning to grow back (Judges 16:22), he prayed and asked God for strength. He knew that his strength and his many victories had come from God. 

Yes. Sarah grew impatient and laughed at the thought that God could do what seemed impossible, but she knew God was able. Gideon needed constant reassurance, and God gave it to him. Throughout his life, it seemed Samson had more faith in himself than in God, but his final act was asking God for the strength to avenge the Philistines one more time. Like us, Sarah, Gideon, and Samson were imperfect people with faltering faith, yet here they are memorialized in God’s Word as people of faith. 

It can be easy to judge people in the Bible as faithless. Or to look at the people around us and not see the voracity in their faith that we expect to see. It is our human nature to easily remember people’s failures and faltering faith more than we remember their victories.

We give up on others, and we give up on ourselves because we don’t have the same longsuffering nature that God has. We see very little of a person’s faith compared to what God sees. He knows a person’s heart. He knows our hearts.Don’t beat yourself up when you feel doubts seeping in, when your faith falters, when your heart and head are swimming with questions about what God is doing and Who He is.

Bring your doubts to God. He understands your human frailty.  Ask Him to help your unbelief and increase your faith—and move forward at his command, even when your faith is fading.