Undaunted.Life: A Man's DevotionalSample

PHYSICAL, Day 2: Faith + Strength = Action

The Bible is full of characters that men can identify with. There are some that we would like to avoid becoming like, and there are some that provide us with something to aspire towards. Yet, it is the men of action and results that usually grab our attention.

The author of the book of Hebrews mentions four of these men in chapter 11: Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. Now, all of these men had their faults and downfalls, but it was their faith that defined them as great men. The interesting thing to note here is that all of these Old Testament saints showed tremendous amounts of faith, but it was their faith-propelled actions that make them so memorable.

In today’s reading, you see the author describe these men as those, “… who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (v. 33-34, ESV). What do you notice about the things listed here? Is there a common thread that you see through them all?

The commonality between those listed actions is the requisite physicality it would take to see them through. It was the faith these men had in God that allowed them to conquer kingdoms, but they could not have completed these actions without physical strength. Their faith pushed them towards certain glorious outcomes, but they could not have followed through without physical might and readiness.

The point here is that some of the things that God may call you to do in your life will require some form of physicality. Does that mean that you need to be able to bench press over 300 pounds or God can’t use you? Absolutely not. Does that mean that if you can’t complete an ultra-marathon that you are somehow unworthy of God’s tasks? Not at all. However, we have to look at the men described in today’s reading to see how their physical strength ended up increasing their ability to serve God.

Yes, all of the men listed were men of faith. Yes, all four were men of action. However, without their physical capacity God may have needed to task other men for the purposes of his glory.

After reading more about Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, can you see how their physicality was so important to their service to God? Do you see your own physicality as a blessing that God wants to use for his Kingdom?