One of Whom the World is Not Worthy?

Am I one of whom the world is not worthy? Have you ever looked really closely at the men (and women) in9 the hall of faith in Hebrews 11? Many of these people were never recognized for the tasks that they performed. They showed faith. The only way they could have done what they did was through faith.

Take Gideon, for example. The Midianites had a huge, frightening army. Gideon had next to no one, but he had God on his side.

David had five stones and a sling shot to fight against Goliath. David should have been crushed. But he knew God was on his side—he hit Goliath with the first stone and finished by cutting off his head.

1 Samuel 17:37, 45–47

Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

But what about the saints in the hall of faith who ended up like Goliath because of their obedience to God. They were tempted, imprisoned, wandering, mocked, scourged, tortured, stoned, slain, destitute, afflicted, slain, sawn in two. And they obtained a good testimony through faith.

Would I be willing to endure those struggles to bring glory to my God and Savior Jesus Christ?

Hebrews 11:32–40

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, 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 mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.