IBS Application for Hebrews 11:6

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

It’s easy to forget that we can’t do things by our own strength. We are incapable of doing the things we’re commanded to do in the Bible without some measure of faith. It is also easy to forget that God is present with us in times of trials, and that we can rely on Him for strength. 

But I think what we tend to forget more than anything else mentioned in this verse is that God is a God of promises. God promises us the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. And as we found in studying verse 1 of this chapter, this hope and this promise are both something more tangible than a mere verbal assurance. They’re real. Real enough that people like Abraham believed and caught glimpses of the fulfillment of this promise before he got to experience it in his time.

Abraham trusted God almost implicitly. He believed God when God promised him descendants as innumerable as the sands of the seashore. He wasn’t able to see that promise come to fruition, but he trusted that God would fulfill His promise someday, even after Abraham had died. But even though Abraham didn’t get to see his lineage grow to such immense size, God still gave him a sign that He would make good on His promise by giving Abraham and Sarah their son, Isaac. 

He then made a promise to not only Abraham, but his descendants as well when He called for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the one thing God had given Isaac that seemed to be the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise. The author of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed that even then, God would raise Isaac from the dead if it were Isaac who was to be a sacrifice. But God stopped Abraham from killing his son and provided a sacrifice in the form of a ram. It’s a picture of how God intended to provide a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for all people in the form of His own Son, Jesus Christ. Because Abraham withheld nothing from God, not even his own son, God promised Abraham’s descendants that He also would not withhold His Son from us to be used as a sacrifice.

Abraham isn’t the only Old Testament figure who demonstrated great faith. Abel, Noah, Enoch, Isaac, and Jacob are all also held up in this same chapter as examples of people with great faith in God. All acted in a manner fitting of faithful service, and God rewarded that faithfulness. What’s more is that in each one of their lives, God was glorified, which is the whole point of being a servant for God. God gets all the glory when we live in a manner pleasing to Him.


God rewards faithful service. He rewards it with the assurance of salvation. He makes good on His promises. But if I act without faith, I am doomed to fail to live a fulfilling life that glorifies Him. Therefore, I believe that having a strong and unshakeable faith ought to be a goal to strive towards, so that He may be glorified through me. Today, and for every day this week, I will pray for at least five minutes each day that my faith would increase and not falter so I can begin to live in a manner pleasing to Him, to make good on His promise to me and everyone around me. I will also stop trying to do everything by my own strength. I cannot please God if I do not give everything up to Him, including my pride and my fear of failure. Having a pleasing faith means surrendering all to rely on Him completely and utterly, just as Abraham did. So, for the next week, I will lay down my pride and my fear of losing control at the throne of God in prayer, at least three times each day. If I see someone in need during that time, I will not back down from helping them for fear of failing to do it the right way, relying on the Spirit for speech and courage.

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