(June 25, 2025) John W. Ritenbaugh shares on Hebrews 11:6 and Isaiah 40:28-31—

(i) Hebrews 11:6 says:
‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him earnestly.’

Because faith is indispensable to a good relationship with God, its importance cannot be overemphasised.

Condition
But notice the condition in this verse. It does not say that God is the rewarder of everyone but ‘of those who diligently seek Him.’

Living faith is direct; it has its foundation in diligently, actively, consistently, zealously seeking Him in study and prayer and in conforming to His will. Those who are doing these things are encouraged that they will be rewarded. The reward is to find Him. This, in turn, increases faith.

The biblical word ‘faith’ is most synonymous with the English word ‘trust.’ ‘Faith’ can be a mere agreement with a cold, hard fact. This is fine as far as it goes, but it loses a great deal of meaning when we consider that this One with whom we are dealing is a warm, dynamic, powerful, loving personality. Biblical faith (trust) is firm. It is faith in full flower, acting consciously and with agreeable feeling— we might call it ‘conviction.’

Conviction
This faith is not done coldly and calculatedly— simply because a thing is right. It is not done with a ‘perhaps’ or a ‘maybe,’ but with joy and with firm conviction, with a consciousness that one is in agreement with this dynamic and loving personality.

We should be aware of our unity with Him just as we are aware of our sense of touch— our strongest sense in terms of evoking emotion: consider a punch in the nose compared to a kiss. But faith— trust— is sensitive in the same way.

It is conscious of the things of God; it sees God. In addition, faith not only evokes the hard, cold facts (it has ‘a remembrance of truth’), but also responds emotionally to a wonderful, dynamic, gracious, and powerful personality, who is our friend.

(ii) Isaiah 40: 28-31 says:
‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ 

Relationship
It is vital for us to understand that this is where the Sabbath ‘rest’ comes from! God is the source of strength, power, and refreshment. They all come from our relationship with God within the proper keeping of the Sabbath day. He gives it to us as a gift of His grace.

He restores our energy. He gives us the power to overcome and to grow. He gives us peace of mind so that we are truly rested. He helps us to recover our strength. He enables us to live confident, hope-filled lives. He gives us good health and sound minds.

Restoration
‘The Lord gives His beloved sleep’ (Psalm 172:2). He gives us strength-restoring sleep. All of these things are gifts of grace from time well-spent in fellowship with Him, developing the relationship with Him and communicating with Him in Bible study and prayer.

How we use the Sabbath day tells Him a great deal about how we will do in His kingdom.

I fear that many of us have put the wrong emphasis on it. We tend to look at the Sabbath day as ‘things that we cannot do’ rather than ‘things we can do’— truly liberating things we cannot devote time to do on the other six days of the week.

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The Berean— berean@cgg.org is highly recommended for its clear teaching on selected daily verses as are other encouraging postings by Church of the Great God http://cgg.org
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