V23-28. Note how Moses’ faith gave him the twofold awareness and assurance emphasized in V1. What choices did such faith lead him to make: a) concerning the world in which he had grown up, and b) concerning the cost of siding with Israelites? How ought similar faith to affect my attitude towards the interest to which I choose to devote my life? Answer: Moses saw that the world he grew up in was not one that served God. Moses saw that it was filled with sin and no repentance. He had faith enough to realize that it was not about him or his pleasures. He saw that the ways of the Egyptians would lead ultimately to death. We are no different today. We must choose to leave the ways of the world behind so that we may live and grow in Him by faith.
V28-31. What different steps and stages of faith and its expression are illustrated by these four instances? What kind of faith did the capture of Jericho demand? Cf. 3:14; 6:11, 12; 10:35, 36. Is my faith at all weak in this last quality? Answer: Faith, the assurance of things unseen, I am not sure how to put that into this answer. I don’t see /understand the steps, stages, or kind of faith means.
V32-40. These verses give a summary of the achievements and the sufferings of the men and women of faith. Note that the victories are of all kinds; and that the most outstanding witness is given by the ‘martyrs’ who suffered and died rather than deny their faith. In what ways am I more privileged than they? Would I be ready to follow their example, or does their faith put mine to shame? Answer: I would say their faith puts mine to shame. If I was stoned or whipped in the public square would I be able to maintain my faith? I hope that I would, and thank God we don’t have to worry about this in America today. My thoughts and (more importantly) prayers go out to them who live this way (i.e. China, middle east). It is easy to have faith in God when you live somewhere that has “freedom of religion.” Not so easy when you have to fear for your life just for believing in the one true God. Actually not that I think about it, If you do live in fear because of your belief then to me that just proves God exists. Why would the enemy, satan, have to convince people to torture and kill those who believed in God if there is no god. What other religion is really treated to this degree?
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