Come Home: Tracing God's Promise of Home Through Scriptureনমুনা

The Promised Home

Hebrews 11 is known as “The Faith Chapter.” I will never not know this because when I was in my later elementary school years, I competed in Bible Drill, a Bible memory competition, and certain Bible facts are forever seared into my memory. When the caller shouted, “Faith Chapter!” I would step across the line, knowing that if called upon, I’d need to give the correct answer: Hebrews 11. This question didn’t stress me out too badly, but sometimes the caller would say things like, “Obadiah,” and then I’d be scrambling to find the smallest and most obscure book ever. (Go try to find Obadiah right now, and you’ll see what I mean. Also, pretend you are nine years old, and YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS to locate it.)

For lots of kids, Bible Drill was a fun, exciting program, but my attentive parents soon discerned it was—how shall I say this—not for me. What I lack in competitive zeal, I make up for in anxious energy. When asked to compete in any way, a little tornado swirls within me and threatens to come out. I suppose this explains the post-Bible Drill barfing.

Looking back, I know what caused the anxiety cyclones: I was worried I would fail. That I wouldn’t measure up. A program that was designed to train me to know God’s Word went squirrely in my mind, and I internalized it as anti-gospel. I felt being good enough was on me. But the Bible teaches something like this: God is good. You are not good, but you are loved by God, and you need Him. By faith, you can belong to God. Your value is found in Him, not in yourself. As you walk with Him in faith, He will shape you to look like Him—and that is good.

Hebrews 11 is not merely a Bible Drill question. It is a chapter jam-packed with people who were not good enough but believed God’s promises and found He was good enough. It begins with this definition of faith: “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.”

The chapter continues with what some Bible teachers have cleverly called “The Hall of Faith.” It lists men and women from the Old Testament who responded to the Lord in faith. They are a “great cloud of witnesses” who encourage us to run the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2). They testify to us that we can cling to God’s promises right now.

Today, you’ll read in Hebrews 11 about Abraham and his wife Sarah. It’s hard to see the logic in the way their lives unfolded. Living in tents? Waiting on a baby in the geriatric years? When we look at our lives from a human perspective, sometimes God’s promises make no sense. All we can see are the limits. But God Himself has no limits, which is one reason we can trust Him to fulfill His promises!

God promised Abraham (1) land, (2) a nation, and (3) a blessing that goes both ways, but verse 13 reminds us that Abraham did not receive this in full while he was alive. Instead, he waved to God’s promise from a distance and declared himself a foreigner on earth. Home was a guarantee—but not here, not yet. Rather than putting all his hope in an immediate home, Abraham looked to a better place.

Verse 16 says Abraham and others desired a “better” place. When by faith we long for something better for our homes, we are looking toward something better than a remodel, better than hosting friends, better than a rent check. We long for what God alone has promised His children: a forever beautiful home with our forever-loving Father alongside our forever-loved family.

If your home is full of pain right now, you can have faith that something better is ahead. Even if your current home situation is wonderful, you can have faith that something better is ahead. Here’s the truth: both the bad and the good point to the promises ahead.

My daughter loves our home and often worries we’ll move. Something in her knows that earthly homes do not offer the permanence we desire. But here’s what I tell her, and I know that it’s true: “Everything you love about our home is just a glimmer of the better home God is building.”

Sister, whatever story of home surrounds you, wave to the promises ahead. Home is not here, not yet, but it is coming, and it’s yours all the same.

Read Hebrews 11:8-16 and thank the Lord for His promise of a perfect and forever home with Him.