Hebrews 11:8-19 deals with the faith of Abraham. Some points to consider from the text:

• Abraham didn't know where he was going. It's fairly easy to follow God when we think we know the way. The true test of our faith, though, is when we have no idea what God's ultimate goal is, only what He commands. Abraham trusted God even though what God commanded wasn't necessarily what he wanted to do, nor did he know where he would end up.
• Abraham didn't receive the promises in his lifetime. He didn't live to see what God had promised him come to pass. He was truly "faithful unto death." He didn't serve God for the wage he'd receive in this lifetime.
• Abraham believed God could do the impossible and the unprecedented.The writer tells us, "He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead." The Bible records no one up to this point who had been resurrected. Not only was raising Isaac from the dead impossible from the human perspective, it was unprecedented - yet Abraham trusted God to keep His promise even when all human wisdom would have protested.

Abraham's faith is thus a perfect example of the spirit of submission.

Naaman (II Kings 5:1-14) was the chief general of Syria (Aram)'s army. Syria was the 800-pound gorilla of the region at that time. In just a few short years, they would invade the northern kingdom of Israel and siege the capitol, Samaria. You might think Naaman had everything a man could desire, but you'd be wrong. Naaman had leprosy, a horrible disease with no cure. When he learned of the prophet Elisha in Israel, he seized on the possiblity of being cured.

When he reached Elisha's home, though, his hope turned into anger.

So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean." But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.' Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

It's not enough for Naaman to be given a cure to an incurable disease; he has to be cured in a manner of his own choosing. The prophet wouldn't even come out to him. Didn't he know Naaman was the right-hand man of the king of Syria? Just who did Elisha think he was, treating such an important man that way? He was supposed to put on a great show.

We're no different today. Sin is an incurable disease. There's nothing any man can do about it. There's no way to earn cleansing. We're in luck, though, because God's made salvation available to us. Is that enough for us? No, we don't like His terms. Baptism? That's just silly. Remaining faithful? If He were a real God, He'd be able to cleanse us permanently! And the pattern he's set up for us as both individuals and the church? Ridiculous! We need to be entertained when we come together!

Fortunately for Naaman, he wised up.

Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.

When Naaman trusted Elisha and obeyed the command he had given, he was cleansed. How simple, and yet how rare! If we do the same with God, obeying His commands in simple, trusting faith, we'll receive blessings beyond any the Syrian general could have imagined.

Job was a man who followed God. He was so exemplary that God spoke specifically of Job's faith to Satan. However, God allowed Satan to tempt Job. First, Satan took away Job's wealth, his servants, and his children. He went on to take his health as well. Things became so bad that Job's wife told him to curse God and die. Even his closest friends came not to comfort him, but to berate him, thinking his sin had brought on his suffering.

It would have been easy for Job to blame God for things going bad, but we're told that "Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God" (Job 1:22). Job's faith was such that he said, "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him." (Job 13:15). However, we do see in Job complains time and again throughout the book. He doesn't understand why God has allowed these catastrophes to come upon him. And when God reveals himself in chapters 38-41, He doesn't explain Himself or answer Job's questions; God simply asserts that His understanding is greater than Job's. The burden isn't on God to explain Himself, but on man to trust His wisdom.

The lesson for us is that faith isn't a lack of questions. Faith doesn't mean we have or will get all the answers. Faith is trusting God in spite of those unanswered questions. We, like Job, may never get an answer as to why God does what He does. We need to have the same attitude toward Job did in 42:4: "Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.". We must always be open to His instructions, realizing He is the Creator and we merely the created.